Storm Before The Calm
by CloudMaxwellReincarnate
Summary: Seiftis and Squinoa. First part in a Trilogy. Seifer returns to Garden and he and Squall must face a new enemy... R&R CHAPTER 9 POSTED!
1. An Unexpected Interview

Legal Disclaimer: I don't own any Square-Enix characters... yadda yadda yadda.

Hello peoples.... first time back in a while. I was Cloudmaxwell before Fanfiction deleted my account (or changed my password... who knows?). I've progressed much as a writer (or so I'd like to think) and I hope you all will enjoy this first chapter of my new story.

Chapter 1

Night crept up slowly on Balamb Garden. It had been a long day, and students not relieved of their duties were anxious to get to their dormatories for some much needed rest. For the second time that evening, the Commander of Balamb Garden looked at his plain, disorganized desk that lay in front of him. Life was boring on the third floor of Balamb Garden. So boring that one might take to napping in one's office, provided they were not caught by Headmaster Cid.

The vid-phone rang. _Finally_ thought the Commander...something to do besides talk to myself.

"This is Squall..." he answered the phone in a monotone voice that lacked basic emotion.

"Hey blue eyes... it's Rinoa.." came a light female voice from the reciever. Her face appeared on his screen a moment later.

"Hey Rin..." he answered, and smiled at his girlfriend of only four months.

"I just wanted to tell you that Cid accepted my application to Garden." she smiled.

"Took him long enough..." Squall answered, frowning.

"That's all you're going to say? Come on Squall... I'm gonna be a SeeD now!" she said excitedly.

"What am I supposed to say?" Squall asked jokingly.

"You're a meanie!! I still stand by that!" Rinoa huffed.

Squall chuckled and blew Rinoa a kiss. She giggled and returned the gesture. Hyne how he hated girls giggling.... Rinoa was different though....

"Oh! I meant to tell you Squall! Cid left a message on your phone last night while you were sleeping. I guess you didn't get it this morning before you left." she raised an eyebrow.

"What was it about?" Squall asked, unconcerned.

"Cid said that an applicant was going to come by your office for an interview later today... and well, I think it's later today." she answered.

Squall sighed, "I don't know why Cid has _me_ interviewing every applicant coming to Garden. I don't think I'm fit for the job. It's boring work..."

"Oh don't be like that. You always have a chip on your shoulder." Rinoa scolded.

"I know, I know...." Squall said and smiled, something rarely seen by anyone except Rinoa.

"Well, I'll see you when you get back tonight... muah..." she kissed the screen.

"You're silly...." Squall said, "I'll see you too..."

"I love you Squall." Rinoa said pointedly.

"I know...." Squall said, and hung up.

A knock came at the door.

"Come in...." Squall grunted, and opened a drawer, pulling out a review sheet for the applicant. _Could this job ever get any more tedious?_ Squall's inner voice said. He would mark down the pros and cons of the applicant's attitude and overal demeanor... and submit the form to Cid.

"Well... long time no see puberty boy." a familiar voice came from the doorway.

Squall looked up, alarmed. _Shit..._ he thought..._I left LionHeart in my dorm._ Hopefully this encounter with the man that Squall considered to be his worst enemy wouldn't lead to violence.

"Seifer..." Squall spat.

"Nice to see you too, Squall." the tall blonde grinned from the doorway to Squall's office.

"What are you doing here?" Squall asked blatantly.

"I'm here for an interview Mr. Commander, SIR!!" Seifer snapped off a mock salute.

"Is this a sick joke Seifer? What are you playing at?" Squall narrowed his eyes.

"No... actually I'm quite serious. I decided to give up on my ROMANTIC DREAM for now and try to make SeeD." Seifer said flatly.

Squall cleared his throat with some discomfort. "Sit down."

Seifer took a seat across from Squall and put one foot on the opposite knee. He still wore his grey trenchcoat, laden with Fire Cross symbols on the shoulders. Inside his coat lay Hyperion, Seifer's own modified gunblade, on a catch. Squall noticed the blade and adjusted his posture in his seat. Seifer noticed Squall staring at his weapon.

"Don't worry Squall... I didn't come here to pick a fight... this time...." Seifer chuckled.

Squall nodded, "So... what makes you think you have what it takes to be a SeeD?

"I bet you say that same god damn thing to every kid who walks in here... don't you?" Seifer's grin widened.

"Yes... if you want to know... I do... I think it's a perfectly suitable question." Squall returned.

"Hyne Squall... I do believe that's a record for you of words used in one sentence." Seifer chortled.

Squall smiled inwardly. It felt good to be back in the old game of rivalry with Seifer, instead of brawling with him.

"That cut on your chest ever heal up?" Squall asked offhandedly.

"Sorta... You coulda just beat me pube boy... you didn't have to nearly kill me." Seifer looked hurt.

"You know damn well you would have fucked all of us over given the chance." Squall narrowed his eyebrows.

"Hey! I'm offended by that Mr. Puberty... I had no intentions of killing you. Much less Chicken-Wuss or your Sweetheart." Seifer said in a hurt tone.

"Right..." Squall said disdainfully.

"So are we going to get to the interview or just shoot the shit?" Seifer said.

"No... I think we need to talk first Seifer." Squall said, putting the review form down on his desk.

"Fine... whadya wanna know about my oh-so-interesting life since Ultimecia." Seifer asked, rolling his eyes.

"First of all... what have you done with yourself? I mean... you totally changed Seifer. I thought I knew you before Ultimecia..." Squall said with a sad look on his face.

"I don't know why you don't understand what I did better Squall... I mean... if it would have been Rinoa instead of Ultimecia, you would have been her Knight? You know I'm right." Seifer said.

"I suppose you have a point... but why turn your back on your friends? You could have helped us from the inside. I know you wanted to protect Matron, but Seifer... you got brainwashed for Hyne's sake." Squall seethed.

Seifer looked down at the floor. "I never meant to take it that far..." he whispered.

"Look... Seifer... I'm sorry. Okay? There, I'm not the ice cold asshole I used to be. I just... I want things to go back to what they were before the Sorceress War." Squall struggled.

"Squall...." Seifer was confused, "What the fuck are you apologizing for?"

"For not helping you... and for not thanking you for making me a better fighter. As much as I hate to admit it... you really have helped me become the best. I mean, come on Seifer... I could have done so much more to prevent what happened. All I could think about was our rivalry, and I couldn't see past it." Squall offered.

"......." Seifer looked up, "You've gone soft on me Squall. Rinoa's a bad influence on you."

Squall chuckled. "Tell you what Seifer... I'm going to give you the chance you had before. Even though you ruined it... I'm going to give it back to you... I guess in return for everything I didn't do..." Squall offered Seifer a hand.

"So does this mean I'm in?" Seifer asked, shaking Squall's hand.

"No... not yet... that's up to Headmaster Cid. I'm just going to offer him a recommendation that you be accepted into Garden again. I'm sure Matron will persuade him to reinstate you." Squall answered.

"Um... Squall? Ya know... if the rest of our little Orphanage Gang sees me walking the halls tomorrow... they're gonna fucking freak... you know that..." Seifer scratched the back of his head.

"Well then... would you like to join me and the others for a drink in Balamb then?" Squall offered.

Seifer chuckled. "Instructor Trepe is gonna shit herself..."

Squall chuckled at the thought of Quistis seeing Seifer again. "She's not an instructor anymore Seifer. As a matter-of-fact... her office is right across from mine. She's already clocked out though."

Seifer looked out the office door window. "Good thing she wasn't there when I walked down the hall. I might have some serious bruises around my neck from that fucking whip of hers..."

Their business concluded, Squall turned on the intercom. "Rinoa, Zell, Irvine, Quistis, Selphie, meet me at the Front Gate"

Satisfied, Squall locked up his office and boarded the elevator with Seifer.

_At the front gate....5 minutes later:_

Squall made his appearance at the Front Gate as promised. Everyone was waiting there when he arrived.

"What did you call us here for Squall?" Rinoa asked.

_Hyne... she looks beautiful..._ Squall thought, seeing that she was wearing her yellow dress she had worn the first night he met her.

"Okay guys...I have a bit of a surprise for you..." Squall began.

"OOOOh!! Is it a fun surprise?" Selphie spoke up.

"Er... no Selphie... I don't think it'll be that fun..." Squall put his head in his palm, a familiar gesture.

"Is it more hot dogs!?" Zell started phantom boxing.

Squall chuckled, "No Zell, but we should have our new shipment in soon."

"Booya!!" Zell said and jumped up and down.

"So what is this surprise you're keeping from us?" Quistis inquired.

As if on cue, Seifer stepped out from behind the wall of the front gate.

"SEIFER!!" Everyone except for Zell reached for their weapons that weren't there.

"Easy people, you act like I shat in your cereal." Seifer grinned.

"...the hell are you doing here Seifer!?" Zell roared, striking a fighting pose.

"He's come to Garden to try his hand at being a SeeD again..." Quistis said whistfully.

Squall blanched. "How did you know that?"

"Squall... you and Seifer were both my best students, and... my favorites... despite Seifer's utter lack of respect for me and and authority." Quistis smiled.

"Ms. Trepe.... I am offended that you would think me such a heathen." Seifer joked.

"So you've finally given up the whole 'Instructor' shtick huh?" Quistis said curtly.

"Yeah... Why... Commander Puberty here just informed me today that you got canned." Seifer said nastilly.

Qusitis glared daggers at him.

"If looks could kill....... Quisty." Seifer said calmly.

Quistis lost her composure at her nickname being used again by Seifer. It had been many years since the orphanage, and she didn't think that Seifer even remembered her. Seifer noticed this and smirked.

"Well... enough smalltalk people. I'm taking Seifer out for a drink to welcome him back. I think you should all welcome him as well." Squall said.

"Yeah," Irvine began, "I know from experience it takes a lot to suck up your pride and ask for another chance."

"Exactly," Squall nodded.

"Allright everyone! Let's mosey." Zell piped up.

"Mosey? Chicken-Wuss, have you been taking stupid pills again?" Seifer was disgusted.

Squall put his head in his palm again, Rinoa doubled over in laugter. Quistis chuckled softly, while Irvine took off his hat and pressed it to his stomach in an attempt to surpress his laughter. Selphie just looked at everyone wide eyed.

"What's wrong with mosey?" Selphie asked.

End of Chapter 1

Okay people, you know the drill... R&R. I hope you like it. If you're wondering.. there will be no Yaoi... no Yuri... and certainly no odd pairings. It's going to be a typical Squinoa, Selvine, Seiftis, and Zellone... yes Zellone, and maybe a little Cidea into the mix. And some of you might complain that Squall has gone too soft or he's OOC. I'm trying to mold him into a somewhat new character, after Rinoa's influence on him. Seifer's not going soft either, all you Seify fans. I'm one myself, so Seifer, despite being ashamed of what he did, is going to be tough assed as ever!! And don't worry Posse fans... Rage and Fuj will make their appearances. As said before... R&R next chapter will be up soon.


	2. The Drink

Legal Disclaimer: I don't own any Square-Enix characters....but... I'd love to have Quistis own me.....(mmmm Quistis)

Yikes! I have no reviews yet!!! People don't read anymore! The world is going to collapse into itself because people won't read!! ........kidding. Here's Chapter 2.... "The Drink"

The bar was empty save for a few local drunks. The group quickly selected a large table in the back of the bar and made themselves at home. Seeing the large party sit down, the waitress groaned, but approached the table nonetheless.

"What can I get you guys?" the waitress retrieved her order pad from her apron.

"I'll have a tequila with a lime." Squall spoke up.

"Gin...straight up." Seifer glanced at the waitress.

"I'll have a bottle of Southern Comfort" Irvine flashed a charming smile.

"I'll have a glass of Merlot if you please." Quistis scooted up in her chair.

"Champagne please." Rinoa asked.

"Tch... a beer would be cool." Zell said.

"Hard lemonade please!" Selphie looked up.

"Allright... that's not too difficult... I'll be right back with your drinks." the waitress headed for the bar.

"Hey! Save us a seat, ya know!" a voice came from the door.

"SEIFER!"

Seifer's face lit up, "Rage! Fuj! Where have you guys been?"

"LAGUNA." Fujin chopped the air.

"What Fujin is tryin to say is......"

"We were running missions between Lunatic Pandora and Esthar for President Loire." Fujin said, gaining her a look from everyone at the table.

"Fujin's talkin a lot more now, ya know?" Raijin scratched his head.

At the mention of Laguna, Squall had squirmed in his seat. Lately he had been thinking a lot about Laguna. About things he suspected... about Laguna being a perfect idiot. _Everything he's told me makes me think he's my father..._Squall's inner voice spoke up. _I was an orphan...If he's my father... why did he abandon me?_

"You're talking to yourself again Squall." Rinoa whispered in his ear.

"So where have you been Seifer?" Fujin asked the leader of the posse.

"Well.... I've kinda been living in Winhill. See, I found this old abandoned house... and I guess the residents thought live and let live..." Seifer answered her question.

"What's on your mind?" Rinoa whispered to Squall again.

"Laguna." the answer came out loud.

Everyone at the table looked over to Squall as if he'd grown broccoli from his ears. After a moment they went back to their respective conversations, Seifer talking to his posse, Quistis talking to Zell, and Irvine and Selphie chattering to each other.

"Here are your drinks everyone!" the waitress seemed to appear out of thin air.

Fujin and Raijin took seats at the large table and ordered drinks for themselves. Squall was reluctant to pay for them as well, but knew he would look rude for not buying their drinks. He had plenty of gil saved up in his SeeD bank account anyhow. Fujin and Raijin excused themselves from the table as the night wound down and more drinks were ordered. Selphie had passed out in Irvine's arms, who joined her not long after, and Rinoa had fallen asleep in her seat. Quistis was still awake and listening to the conversation between Squall and Seifer, but soon fell asleep herself. Zell threw comments in once and a while.

"No Squall, I had your ass beaten! Demon Slice sent you flyin into tha door.." Seifer drawled, clearly intoxicated.

"Yeah...but I came back with Blasting Zone, and I wiped you out." Squall was drunk as well.

"Squall can beat you any day, any time Seifer." Zell's eyes were bloodshot. He'd had at least 14 beers.

"That might be Shhhicken-Wuss, but I can still beat you." Seifer laughed.

Instead of answering, Zell just passed out on the table. Seifer and Squall shared a laugh.

"So.... you still haven't told me what happened after that day in the Timber Radio Station." Squall looked up from his latest Tequila.

"You already know the story..." Seifer answered almost soberly.

"No, I don't. I didn't see you until a week later in that parade." Squall said truthfully.

"Well... I guess you could say that the Sorceress revealed herself to me as Matron. I, of course, missed Matron a lot."

"You were her favorite."

"Right... so she offered me a chance to be a Knight, something I've dreamed about for years... So... I took the offer. I mean, she was Matron, Squall. How can you not think Matron's making a right decision?........................Even when she gave the order for the missiles to be launched, I still trusted in her." Seifer said plainly.

"That doesn't explain your fervor when you battled us... You could have told us at any time." Squall said flatly.

"You want the truth puberty boy? I enjoyed it.... I enjoyed every second of it. It made me feel alive to battle people who were actually worthy of fighting me." Seifer said proudly.

Squall guessed that he could understand Seifer's sentiments. He had felt that battle high like Seifer must have. It had felt good.... sometimes too good.....

"Regardless... I guess I'm glad to have my rival back...." Squall said.

"Likewise." Seifer nodded, and raised his drink.

"To battles... whether won or lost...." Seifer toasted.

"To second chances... and old friends." Squall added.

Both nodded and downed their drinks.

"Seifer Almasy... long time no see..." a man in a black cloak stood behind Seifer.

"Garret... somehow... someway... I knew your sorry ass would find me. What the fuck do you want?" Seifer growled without looking behind him.

"Oh... nothing....... your head on a silver platter....................you betrayed her you son of a bitch. I think you deserve a little of your own medicine." The man paced around to the front of the table... standing behind a sleeping Irvine and Selphie. "I want you outside... right now... and Mr. Leonhart.... we have matters to discuss as well. I suggest you sober yourselves up for this one..." he finished, and set two remedies on the table.

Squall was still confused as to who this man was, but apparently he had been a strong follower of Ultimecia.

Seifer reached for the remedy. _God damn brown nose motherfucker..._he thought to himself. Garret had always vied for Ultimecia's affection. Her attention, though not romantic, was focused more on Seifer. Garret had been nothing but jealous all the way through the Sorceress War. _It's time to end this sad fuck's life..._ Seifer thought again... and drank the remedy.

Squall drank his own remedy. After a moment, they felt cleansed of the alcohol, and the three men exited the bar, Squall and Seifer's hands on the grips of their weapons. Squall had not forgotten LionHeart his time.. it was strapped to his back now, in a sheath. As the trio stepped out into the cool evening, Squall carefully drew his well-known crystal sword. Seifer followed suit, drawing what looked to be an extremely modified Hyperion from his coat. Before, the hilt of the weapon had been a 9mm pistol. Now it looked to be a Desert Chimera .50 caliber. The blade looked sharper, and had a serated quality about it. Seifer meant business.

"I don't know you, but if you have something to say to me, I suggest you say it." Squall took a fighting stance.

"I hate you.... I hate you both. Both of you must perish." the man drew a wicked looking sword from his cloak. the sword had two blades, both rising up, then curving outwards to make a hook formation. The man took a fighting stance, separating the sword into two hooks.

"As far as I know, I never did anything to you." Squall said, reaching out for Bahamut to junction.

"You killed my goddess you bastard!" Garret screamed.

Squall nodded. That was all he needed to know. "Seifer.. do you need a junction?"

"No..." was the reply.

"You... you blonde haired sniveling brat. You always had her attention. She gave YOU the dreams, and passed me over. No matter how much I tried to curry her favor... YOU were always there. She even called you a worthless maggot! BUT STILL, you gained her favor. I damn you Seifer Almasy. I damn you and your whole family to the abyss." the man cast Meteor.

"Shit...." Squall muttered, and jumped to dodge the falling asteroids. Seifer did the same, but both got hit a few times. Whoever this man was... he had drawn powerful magic, and was not afraid to use it in town. Residents of Balamb, including Ma Dincht were poking their heads out their windows, surveying the battle, and the damage the meteors had done to their homes.

_Lucky I had him already juncitoned..._ Squall summoned Cerberus, who proceeded to cast Double and Triple on him and Seifer. Squall quickly cast shell on Seifer, then himself. Seifer lifted his hand, and cast a spell. A golden glow emitted from his spell, and enveloped him in gold splendor. Aura...

"Yaaargh!! Demon Slice!!" Seifer bellowed, twirling around like a tornado, and smashing into Garret blade first. Garret deflected a few of the blows, but most hit home, gashing his arms, legs and leaving a nasty gash on his stomach.

Garret laughed loudly, "Is that the best Seifer Almasy can do?"

Casting Curaga on himself, he prepared his next attack. He did what Squall hoped would not happen. He summoned a GF.

"Catoblepas!! Kill them!" Garret pointed in their direction.

The large beast that Squall had fought in Ultimecia's castle began to cast it's own Meteor spell, which far exceeded Garret's. The meteors began to fall... only to be swatted aside by a massive force.

Squall was in shock. The Omega Weapon swatted the meteors aside, tossing them into the far reaches of space, then turned it's attention to Catoblepas. With a single slice of it's claws, Catoblepas fell into several smoking pieces. Garret was alarmed.

"You've beaten me this time asshole. I'll be back for your head!" with that, Garret used a float spell and danced from rooftop to rooftop, and soon was nothing more than a speck in the distance.

Squall surveyed the scene, readying for a battle with the strongest creature he knew of. The Omega Weapon, however, was nowhere to be found.

"Where did it go!?" Squall stammered.

Seifer chuckled, "I told you I didn't need a junction..."

"You don't mean....."

"Yep... I stumbled upon Omega here just after you guys beat him in Ultimecia's castle. He had pretty much fallen apart, but still tried to start a fight with me. I beat him into submission and he offered to be my GF rather than die completely."

_I should have done that....._Squall thought inwardly.

"Let's get back to the others." Squall said, and turned back towards the bar, only to see that it was nothing more than a pile of rubble. A meteor had fallen on the small pub.

"RINOA!!!!!!" Squall screamed, and started digging through the pile of wood and steel.

Seifer hung his head sadly. _This is my fault... I.... wanted to defeat them before... but not.........kill them........._ He lifted his hand and cast Tornado to clear away the wreckage. Squall ran through the now open, but broken, doorway, searching for his girlfriend. A groan came from underneath a huge piece of roof that now lay inside the bar. It had apparently been too big to pick up with Tornado.

"What....the....hell..?" the voice groaned. It belonged to Irvine.

Squall searched underneath and saw a hint of black hair flowing from underneath the table they had been sitting at.

"BAHAMUT!!! MOVE THIS ROOF!!!!!" Squall roared, and the mighty GF came down from the clouds and did it's master's bidding. Squall expected to see carnage, but instead saw that, for the most part, his friends were okay. The poor waitress wasn't so lucky. Her head had been completely severed from her body. It looked like a large piece of glass was the culprit. The roof, had it gone a little to the left, would have fallen flat instead of diagonal, and crushed the table, as well as everone _under_ it. Squall smiled inwardly while picking up Rinoa's limp form. They had dove under the table at the sound of battle outside. _How very cowardly of them..._Squall thought, but then realized they had been intoxicated. Zell was picking himself up, and Irvine was grabbing Selphie. Quistis shook her head and sat up... only to hit her head on the table above her. Rinoa was out cold. She had sustained some sort of injury to her head.

"Rin... wake up..." Squall brushed her hair out of her face.

Rinoa blinked groggily, and Squall noticed that one of her pupils was extremely contracted, the other dilated. _Shit... a concussion.. a bad one too._.. Squall thought...._I have to get her to Dr. Kadowaki_.

"Easy does it Ms. Trepe." Seifer said, while picking up Quistis.

"Let....me....down......you...." Quistis passed out.

Seifer chuckled as they exited the broken building. Irvine had woken Selphie up, and she seemed to be in good shape. What alarmed everyone was the fact that she had slept through the whole battle. Zell had a large laceration on his right arm from the elbow to the shoulder, but a Curaga stopped the bleeding. Irvine had taken a broken leg of a stool in his stomach, and it still resided there, but again... Curaga stopped the bleeding. Squall and Seifer had various wounds from battle, but knew they had to take charge of the situation and get their friends back to Garden as quickly as possible.

Squall ran up to the Car Rental office, Rinoa safely in his arms. "I need to rent your fastest car that can hold a lot of people." Squall said tersely.

"That'll be.....oh Hyne....she's hurt!!........er... Free of charge young man. Just have Garden send it back to me." the rental clerk handed him the keys to a fast looking sport-utility that sat in the garage.

Squall put Rinoa in the passenger's seat, while Zell and Irvine shoved into the back seat. Irvine took Selphie on his lap so Seifer could attain a seat. Selphie worriedly examined Irvine's wound, asking if he would like her to pull the piece of wood out.

"NO!!!!" all three men shouted at once.

Seifer climbed into the car, and sat the sleeping Quistis on his lap. "We'll be home shortly Quisty...." He murmered in her ear. He knew she couldn't hear him.

_Garden- 15 minutes later:_

"Why... I don't believe I've had my infirmary so packed in a while!!" Dr. Kadowaki exclaimed, still in her pajamas and bath robe. Despite being woken up at 1 A.M., Dr. Kadowaki worked with the pace and intelligence of a true practitioner of medecine. Squall and Seifer's wounds were easily tended to. Zell's gash was packed and bandaged next, and then Dr. Kadowaki's attention turned to the more serious injuries of Rinoa and Irvine. Selphie sat by Irvine's bed and cried as he squeezed her hand when the piece of sharp wood was removed. Curaga was cast, and Dr. Kadowaki went to work, checking to see if any organs were damaged. When it was discovered that none were, she sewed up the wound, and cast Regen on him. She then prepped the CAT Scan machine for Rinoa.

Seifer bid the group goodnight and picked Quistis up to take her to her room. He got looks from everyone but Selphie, who giggled and suggested he might have a thing for Quistis.

"It's nothing like that!" he spat, storming out of the infirmary with Quistis in his arms.

Selphie and Irvine soon left, much to the discontent of Dr. Kadowaki, who insisted that Irvine stay just for the rest of the night, for observation. Irvine shrugged and said he'd be fine before walking out the infirmary door with Selphie's support.

Squall stayed through the rest of the night for the results. After about three hours of studying the CAT Scan photos and tending to Rinoa, Dr. Kadowaki came out into the waiting room.

"She's awake now Squall, but in a lot of pain..." Kadowaki said darkly.

"Can I see her?" Squall looked hopeful.

"Sure... just don't jostle here with huge hugs and such." she answered waving to the intensive care room.

Squall jumped up from his seat and ran to Rinoa's bedside.

"Rinoa!" he put his hand on her forehead.

"Squall? What happened?"

"Shhh. You need rest right now. Er... go to sleep and I'll tell you tomorrow." Squall soothed.

"But... what if your gone? What if I can't find you?" she panicked.

"Rinoa... you know where you'll find me if I'm gone. Remeber our promise?" Squall patiently calmed her nerves.

"Is she allright?" came Seifer's voice from behind him.

"She's hurting badly..." Squall stated.

"I'm gonna rip that motherfucker's heart out with a rusty spoon." Seifer murmered through clenched teeth.

"Who in the hell was he anyway Seifer?" Squall stood up after seeing Rinoa was fast asleep.

Seifer nodded. "I guess I have a story to tell.... and it's a story that might bore you and you don't have to listen, because I always knew it was going to be this way..."

End of Chapter 2

I feel good about that chapter. I was gonna leave it on a cliffhanger, but nah... That last statement that Seifer made, about his story....it's a quote from a book I once read that got turned into a movie.. 100 Billion cookie dough points to whoever can tell me what book/movie it was.


	3. Seifer's Story

Disclaimer: Do I own any Square-Enix character? NO. So fk off douchebags!!

I hope some of you guessed the line. In case you don't know which... it's "and it's a story that might bore you and you don't have to listen, because I always knew it was going to be this way..."

I'll post the answer in chapter 5 to give you peeps some time........

Allright! Where were we? Oh yeah... Seifer's story...........

Squall sat across from the obviously troubled Seifer Almasy in Garden's infirmary. He quietly waited for Seifer to begin his tale. _Brooding is my deck of cards, not Seifer's_ Squall's inner voice announced.

"You can go ahead, Seifer." Squall broke the silence.

"Huh? Oh.. yeah. Okay... it started after that day in Timber..........." Seifer began.

_I didn't know where I was after I dissapeared with Ultimecia. Really, I guess it was more like a dream. It was damn well the best dream I'd ever had. Have you ever had a dream that seemed real Squall? _"Plenty." _Then you know what it's like._

_I mean, I was the top fighter in the world. I was the commander of all the Gardens. I had everything I've ever begged Hyne for. I was the Sorceress's Knight. Of course, the dream was more romantic than the reality of the situation, but the fact that she kept on giving me this dreams led me to believe that the world would really turn out that way if I helped her. _"I never knew she brainwashed you that well...." _She did. I mean, for all the abominable shit she did, you have to give her credit for the way she went about it. _

_Ultimecia.... how do I start explaining her? I guess I can't. All I could see was Matron. Squall, I don't think you understand how much I love Matron. She's the mother I never had. I grew up in an abusive household. My mother left my father early in my life, dumping me in his hands before she left with a better man._

_My father...... Fathers should be role models for their children. My dad was just a role model for winos........ He drank constantly, and I had to wait on him hand and foot, or else...........he....._

"Hyne Seifer!!" _Yes, those are cigarette burns. Speaking of cigarettes.......click _"Dr. Kadowaki would be pissed if she knew you were smoking in her infirmary." _Chuckles Yeah, I know. What can you do though?_

_Anyway, I suppose you want to know about Garret?_ "Who is he?"_ heh... I met him the day after I dissapeared. Apparently, he wanted to be her knight as well........but in a different way.... He lusted for her day and night. _

_The day I appeared he welcomed me warmly and brown nosed on Matron a bit before going off to complete duties given to him.........but when he came back................. he sorta caught me and Matron in the middle of one of my dream sequences. She had given him dreams before I came along, but then witheld them. He was pissed. My head was in her lap, and she had her fingers pressed against my temples. I had the most idiotic smile on my face. _

_Since then he had tried to find ways to prove I wasn't reliable. I was sent to clear out Deling City of any anti-sorceress sentiment. We went to houses, threatened people.........killed people........She made it seem like they were evil, and needed to be destroyed. _

_Anyhow, on the way out of the house of a very respectable family we had just threatened, Garret snatched up their 9 year old daughter. He said that she expressed more anti-sorceress sentiment than her parents, and commanded me to dispose of her. 't do it...........and he murdered that poor little girl on the steps of the mansion. _

_In the end he chalked it up to her wanting to join SeeD. I went to Matron to argue with her about these tactics, but again she assaulted me with the orgasmic dreams, and through them convinced me that SeeD was a terrible enemy that wished to murder her in her sleep. I was enraged by that. I mean pissed._

"That's why you interrogated me about SeeD. Ultimecia didn't want to know what SeeD was... she already knew. YOU wanted to know what SeeD's purpose was......."

_Exactly._

"You know I still get spasms from that torture."

_Sorry I guess............_

"It wasn't you who did the most damage, it was that damned Warden."

_Yeah, I knew he was an asshole._

_Anyway........Garret always tried to find different ways from that day on to discredit me. _

_When you guys beat me up in Lunatic Pandora, she called to me.........told me to bind Rinoa and Adel together. Little did she know that would backfire on her............._

_When Time Compression began, I was lost........and my anger started to build. I started walking........but I was going nowhere........ Pretty soon my thoughts drifted to Garret, and poof......there I was, standing right next to him at our orphanage.........staring out at Ultimecia's castle._

_Well, Garret saw this as a divine opportunity to get rid of me. He took advantage of my confused state......and hit me in the head with a fucking huge rock. As I lay on the ground bleeding, I saw him rushing up the chains towards her castle........screaming, "I'm coming goddess!!! I hear your summons!!" Idiot........._

_So.......when I was able to get up again......I decided I'd had enough of this Ultimecia shit........I decided that I knew who she really was..........and she wasn't any Matron..........I headed up the chains, only to be greeted by Garret at the entrance. He refused to let me pass, saying he was the new Sorceress Knight.... He fought bravely........but couldn't stand up to Demon Slice... I got in..........._

_I caught a glimpse of you guys running all around the castle. Strangely enough, my junction powers weren't inhibited when I walked in. I think maybe she hoped I would kill you for her. Whatever the case............_

_I walked around a bit trying to find a way to help you without showing myself. I knew it would lead to a battle. I was in the Art gallery right after you guys defeated Trauma........ I was looking behind paintings, and I found a key.......... I didn't know what it went to.......but it was obviously a secret. So I ran ahead and put the key on that wooden bridge before the bell tower. I assume you found it._

"We did."

_Okay....but I think that's why he decided that I betrayed Ultimecia........ I mean I DID betray her, but she's gone now. I don't see what his obsession is..........._

"Any idea where Garret might be?" Squall asked.

"Notta damn clue." Seifer shook his head sadly.

"This guy could end up causing a lot of damage. We need to eliminate his threat." Squall tapped his finger on his knee.

"Well, I know the first place to start looking.." Seifer offered.

"??" Squall raised an eyebrow.

"Galbadia." was the answer.

"Ok... I'll see if I can't get a team assembled within a week." Squall started to get up.

Seifer stood up."Wait! Squall.......I know I'm in no position to ask any favors of you give me my field exam? You know I'm ready for it. You know that I studied just as hard as you. I know everything senior candidates know........."

".......How do you even know that you've been accepted back to Garden?" Squall inquired.

"I don't......."

"Headmaster Cid already pre-approved you Seifer....you're in..." Squall smirked.

"Wha.......How? What the fuck was the interview for then?" Seifer was angry.

"To see if you were friend or foe.........that's all. I didn't know it was going to be you, but Cid had told me two days ago that I would be interviewing a pre-approved student." Squall explained.

"Cid is smarter than he acts." Seifer chuckled.

"He is at that......but he can be a damn fool most of the time......" Squall grinned. "I'll call our little run in with Garret your field exam. I think you performed well. As far as I'm concerned, you're a SeeD."

"You're shittin me....." Seifer blanched.

"No, I'm not. Remember Seifer......I'm commander of this Garden. What I say goes......Headmaster Cid is now just a figurehead. All decisions, including SeeD admissions, rest in my hands. You're a SeeD. I'll get the paperwork filled out for you, as well as your SeeD report to you tomorrow. Right now, go to take a load off." Squall gestured to the door.

"Uh.......did- you- for-get- I- have- no- room?" Seifer spoke like a mentally difficient person.

Squall chuckled, "Yeah. You do........" He reached in Dr. Kadowaki's desk. "I had the good doctor keep your room key here, and I had your room locked up. No one, except for Raijin and Fujin probably, has been in there since before Timber." he handed Seifer the key.

"That's kinda conceited of you.......thinking I'd come back because you asked me to..." Seifer teased.

"Seifer........I knew you better. We've always been at each other's throats, but I knew you'd return some day." Squall said truthfully, and offered Seifer a hand.

"Thank you Squall." Seifer took Squall's hand, embraced him, and patted him on the back.

"That's a first.........a show of something besides anger from the infamous Seifer Almasy." Squall quipped.

"Now don't go pickin' up on my sense of humor asshole." Seifer mock growled.

"Later."

"See ya."

Seifer couldn't believe the gesture of kindness that Squall had just done to him. Rinoa really had softened him up. _And whether I like to think so or not........she softened me up too....._ He had fond memories of Rinoa, but knew they would have never worked in a relationship. Squall was meant for Rinoa. In a way, Seifer still felt protective of her though.......

As he walked down the hall, he knew he was going to pass Quistis's room. She was one of the few people at Balamb Garden that, like him, opted for an apartment room rather than a dorm. Luckily for Seifer, he had inherited his father's meager fortune that had mostly been squandered on booze and cigarettes, as well as cheap whores.

There was enough left that Seifer would probably not have to worry for the next 5 or so years of his life. He still neede money though.....for the future......whatever it may bring.

His thoughts drifted back to Quistis. As he was approaching his room, which was ironically right across from hers, he noticed something was wrong. Something was not the way he had left it.........._the fucking door is open......._he realized.

_Maybe Quistis went out for some early morning food......_ he thought.....He decided to check anyway. He had a bad premonition.

His fears turned out to be well founded when he discovered her door had been forced open with some kind of tool. Seifer reached into his coat and pulled out his gunblade. Quietly, he opened the door and crept in.

He heard panting coming from Quistis's room, where he had put her to bed. He walked carefully through the short hall to her room and paused at the door. It was dark, but he could see well at night. He wasn't prepared for what he saw next.

An older cadet was on top of Quistis, thrusting into her........._what the fuck? Who the fuck is he? Her boyfriend?_ All those thoughts were dismissed when he realized Quistis was asleep.

Anger shot through him like a dose of synthetic adrenaline. His vision turned red as he raised his gunblade.

"Boo motherfucker." He snarled.

The rapist launched himself from Quistis's body and fell on his ass next to the bed. Seifer turned on the light.

_McConnell, I should have fucking known._ Dmitri McConnell, perhaps the most lustful of the Trepies, lay on the floor panting, his pupils dilated at the sight of a gunblade leveled at his forehead.

"Who....the......FUCK.......do you think you are!!!!!? Seifer roared.

"She..she was commin on to me in clas-s-s-s-s-s-s..............stuttered. She....ah.........wanted-d-d this-s-s-s. I th-think it's-s-s best for you t-t-t-o leave."

"Wrong answer......" Seifer stated........and fired.

Sorry ppl. A cliffhanger. Anyway, R&R. And now for shouts to my reviewers......or lack thereof.

Sissy Almasy- Thanks! I read your fic about Seifer and Squall making up. THAT'S EXACTLY HOW I SAW IT. I just wrote it a little differently in this story. Keep writing good stuff, and reviewing my story lol!


	4. Traitors and Treatment

Disclaimer: Me: Do I really need one? Square-Enix: If you don't have one, we'll sue your pants off. Me: Yikes!!! Okay! I DO NOT OWN ANY SQUARE-ENIX PROPERTY.

Oh yeah.........Seifer's pissed. Here we go.

The gunshot was loud. Extremely loud. It must have echoed throughout the entire apartment building inside Balamb Garden. The pained scream of the man shot was almost as deafening as the shot.

Seifer admired his handywork with a sadistic grin. The man he had just shot squirmed on the ground clutching his crotch. _Sometimes I out-do even myself.._Seifer thought. He could already hear the alarm being raised. Garden security would arrive shortly, followed by Squall. He walked to Quistis's bedside and began to pull her panties back upwards towards her body. He was trying not to stare at her womanhood, but couldn't help but notice she was bleeding. Not heavily, just a small trickle, but the rapist had done damage. He reached into her night stand and pulled some kleenex out, as well as one of those......._ugh_ he thought........pads. He cleaned her up as best he could and placed the pad on her panties then slid them up. After rolling down her pink skirt he tucked her into bed.

Seifer sat down at the end of her bed, then turned his attention to Dmitri, who was panting heavily on the floor.

"So you thought you could come in here and just rape Quistis like that....... Just because in your fucked up little fantasy she was hitting on you. If Quistis was nice to you while she was an instructor, it's probably only because you made good grades. You're really sick dude. Really sick. I should have killed you just now, but ya know what? I'm a little more worried right now about staying here at Garden. I don't think your murder would look very good on me. And don't think I'm showing you ANY compassion. I have none for people like you. I'm looking out for MY best she wasn't hitting on me. I saw you bring her in. I've been planning this since the last time I was in her class!!" Dmitri spat.

"Oho! So you have? You're lucky that I'm containing myself you little worm. I might as well have killed you though. I doubt you'll have use of your package." Seifer had a crazed look in his eyes.

"I don't give a.....fmfmfrmm smmf!!!" the man struggled as Seifer had circled behind him and cupped his hand over Dmitri's mouth.

"Shhh. Security will be here in a moment to drag you out of here. Imagine the embarassment Dmitri. All the students that will see your dick got blown off." Seifer whispered in his ear.

"Mff Bmf Mrrf!!" Dmitri seethed under Seifer's hand.

Seifer footsteps in the hallway.

"Freeze!! We've got Mighty Guard on so don't try anything!!" a kid in a security uniform entered the room with a 7.62 mm automatic rifle. Two more young SeeDs in security uniforms, armed with 9mm pistols entered the room as well.

"Release him NOW Almasy!" the first guard said, leveling the gun between Seifer's eyes.

"You've got the wrong guy. You should be detaining him." Seifer said, nodding his head towards his captive.

"Right! We're supposed to believe that, you traitor!!" the guard spat, "Now you will either release him, or you will be shot! And no funny stuff with your gunblade!"

"Tch........fine." Seifer said, and released Dmitri.

"Uh sir? There's signs of blood around Ms. Trepe's.....er.... body sir." one of the other guards had walked over to the bed.

"Check her for injuries." the leader commanded.

A moment later after searching Quistis the guard spoke up. "Uh...sir...it looks like she's been raped very recently."

"Oh boy Almasy, you're a real good guy..." the leader said through clenched teeth. "I oughta off you right now."

"Go ahead and try it fuck bag!" Seifer narrowed his eyes.

"You asked for it!!" the leader yelled, and pulled his baton.

Seifer's head exploded with pain as the guard quickly and efficiently clubbed him. He fell to the ground, his eyes rolling back into his head. He wished the blow had knocked him out. More pain shot from different areas on his body. _He's beating me to death......_Seifer's thought was, and then there was darkness.

The light stung his eyes it was so bright. Seifer shook his head and felt a sharp pain above his left eye. He reached up with a gloved hand and brought back blood. _Damn it...._ He looked around, taking in the holding cell he had been placed in.

"So you're awake now huh? Good, cause I wanted to see you fry! Dying would be the easy way out!" the guard who had hit him was the only one present outside of his cell.

"I...told you......idiot......" Seifer struggled. He felt as if he had lost his wit.

"Told me what Mr. Rapist?" the guard sneered.

"You've got.....the wrong......guy...." Seifer's eyes still lolled around in his head.

"Well I sent a semen sample up to Dr. Kadowaki. She has a blood sample of you already. If it comes back as positive..... the next beating will be worse than the first one. And I might just pay you back for what you did to my friend." the guard kicked his feet up on a stool near the chair he sat in.

"Your.......'friend'.....was raping my friend.......you moron." Seifer said sternly.

"You shut up! Dmitri liked her too much to do that! I bet he caught you in the act and you took what any man values most about his body from him!! How dare you accuse him of that!?" the guard screamed.

Just then, the holding area door opened. Squall strolled in and asked to see Seifer.

"He's right in here." the guard said, pointing towards the cell. "If you.....er.........wanna get rough with him......I uh.....didn't see anything okay?"

"Whatever..." Squall said.."Open it up."

"Yessir." the guard jumped up and opened the cell.

Squall entered the cell and sat on the bed. "What did you do to him?"

"I gave him what he deserved."

"You don't beat suspects Jenkins. You're officially removed from duty as of now." Squall waved him off.

"But sir! He....Quistis!!!" the guard sputtered.

"It doesn't matter what he did or didn't do. You absolutely DO NOT hit prisoners, no matter what the crime. Innocent until proven guilty!" Squall glared at him. Jenkins threw his cell keys at Squall and stormed out of the holding area.

"So tell me something Seifer..... Did you do it?" Squall inquired.

"What do you think!?" Seifer was irritated.

"I don't think you did, but that's going to be hard to tell to the Garden Council unless you have some proof." Squall explained.

"That guy said that he sent a semen sample of to Dr. Kadowaki for testing. Go ask her for it. That should clear me." Seifer sat up.

"Allright. You're coming with me though. I don't trust Jenkins. I think he'll do something if I leave you here."

Seifer slowly climbed out of the bed, trying to ignore the fact that his almost-broken body screamed in pain. The holding cell had once been the lair of the Garden Master....NORG, and the elevator had to be taken to the first floor. Once the elevator stopped, Squall peeped out to make sure there was no one skulking about the halls, then both he and Seifer shot out of the elevator and ran for the Infirmary.

"Dr. Kadowaki!" Squall exclaimed, as he burst through the door.

"What is it Squall?" Dr. Kadowaki looked up from a complex-looking machine she had been operating.

"The....huff.....sample!" Seifer came through the door.

"Oh yes. I've concluded that it wasn't you Seifer......it was a student by the name off.........Dmitri McConnell." she answered darkly.

Squall picked up Dr. Kadowaki's intercom and set it to full broadcast. "Everyone... this is Squall. I know you probably won't like being awakened, but a horrible crime has been committed tonight. The one responsible is not Seifer Almasy... it is Dmitri McConnell. I want Security to detain him immediately, and students......if you see him, report him." Squall finished.

"Did he come by the infirmary?" Seifer asked.

"No... why should he have?" Kadowaki looked confused.

"I.....er.....injured him pretty severely." Seifer chuckled at the thought of Dmitri holding his crotch.

"Well he hasn't been here tonight. I've been here all night caring for Rinoa." Kadowaki maintained.

static "Squall!! This is Raijin, ya know!" a direct broadcast came through Squall's comm link that he wore on his belt.

"Go ahead Rage!" Seifer snatched the comm link from Squall's hand before he could answer it.

"Oh Seifer! We found McConnell, ya know? But he kinda ran!" Raijin explained.

"Did you catch him?" Seifer was impatient.

"I can't run that fast, ya know? Maybe being the head of security just isn't my deck of cards, ya know?" Raijin did sound exhausted.

"Do you have any idea where he went?" Seifer implored.

"Yeah! Fuj says he ran out past the front gate towards the beach, ya know!" Raijin answered.

"He probably has a boat waiting for him Seifer...... remember........Jenkins is his friend. He could have easily stolen one of Garden's boats and trailored it out to the beach." Squall interrupted.

"Damn!" Seifer shut off the comm link.

Squall pressed the intercom button again, "This is Squall again. I'd like a search for Mark Jenkins's ID signature performed immediately." he spoke to the security staff.

"Right away sir!" a voice spoke back. "He's not in Garden sir!"

"That's it! I'm going to the dock to get a fast boat!" Seifer seethed.

"Wait! Seifer........I think I have a better idea....." Squall looked troubled.

"I understand completely Squall! I'll have someone fly it over right away!" Laguna Loire's face twisted to a frown. Squall had not wanted to contact Laguna. All these thoughts lately about Laguna being his father..........it was starting to confuse him.

"Thank you...er.. President Loire." Squall saluted him.

"You're quite welcome so.......I LeonHart." Laguna stumbled over his sentence. Squall didn't think it was his imagination that Laguna had almost called him son........._So...it's true. _he thought. His inner voice reasoned that Laguna was a moron, and couldn't possibly be his father. Everything he'd heard thus far however, pointed to the truth....Laguna WAS his father.

Seifer apparently didn't notice the slip, and jumped up from his seat with a groan.

"You're injured Seifer. You should stay here." Squall noticed how bad Seifer was hurting.

"Bullshit! I'm gonna find that guy and tear his throat out!" Seifer said, but after a step, nearly crumpled to the ground.

"Seifer! I am the Commander of this Garden, and you are a SeeD. I COMMAND you to stay. Take care of yourself!" Squall said sternly.

"I don't care about myself!" Seifer shot back.

"Then take care of Quistis." Squall walked out of the Infirmary and left Seifer sitting there, hanging his head.

Seifer walked over to the room adjacent to Rinoa's room. There, on the bed, lay Quistis, in a white hospital gown, and tucked under a blanket. He took a seat in the chair next to her bed and looked over at her. _She looks like an angel when she sleeps. What a contrast to how she acts._ Seifer thought. He pulled the glove off of his left hand and placed it on her head. Her soft eyelids fluttered open.

"S..Seifer?" Quistis squinted at him.

"Yes Quisty. I'm here." Seifer stroked her hair.

"What....happened? Why? Why do I hurt........there?" Quistis was clearly confused.

"I....uh.......put you in your bed after you passed out........and as I was heading into my apartment, I noticed your door was open........and I walked into your room to check on you and............found.......well.........Dmitri McConnell..........you know......." Seifer tried his best to tell the story.

"You mean he......?" Quistis was apalled. "Yes."

"That bastard!! I'll kill him!!" She cried.

"No.......no......you need rest. Squall's out looking for him right now." Seifer held her in the bed.

Tears sprung from her eyes and she put her face in her hands. "Oh Hyne!" she sobbed.

"Shhhh.... Quisty.....it's okay.....I got him........I got him good." Seifer soothed.

Unexpectedly, she embraced him, burying her face in his chest. "Shhh. It's okay." he murmered, stroking her hair again. _Why am I acting like this?_ Seifer's inner voice spoke up for the first time in a while. _This isn't me.....I'm not sensetive._ _We all have to be sometimes_ Seifer argued with his inner voice. It was then that it hit him. He loved Quistis. He always had. Even as a child he had loved her. Her bossy nature, her strong will. Quistis broke the embrace and stared into his eyes.

"Seifer....Hyne! What happened to your eye?" she realized his left eye was almost swollen shut, and dried blood clung to the wound.

"A crooked security guard, who just-so-happens to be friends with McConnell came on scene, and accused me of.....well..........raping you. He beat the shit outta me." Seifer looked tired.

"That guard needs to be arrested!" Quistis was angry.

"He fled with McConnell after Squall fired him." Seifer explained.

"Oh...I'm sure Squall will catch them." Quistis turned away for a moment.

"Yeah."

"You need to let me treat those wounds." Quistis got up from the bed.

"Uh... I didn't think your last name was Kadowaki." Seifer joked.

"Argh....idiot...I've been taking lessons from her. She's grooming me to replace her one day." Quistis chuckled.

"Oh........well in that case........fix me up please Doctor!" Seifer laughed at his own joke.

Quistis admired her work as she finished stitching up Seifer's eyebrow. She cast Curaga on it and removed the stitches. He winced as she did it, which made her think of a time when he had skinned his knee on a rock, and Matron had put alcohol on it to kill bacteria. Seifer was always strong as a child, and almost never cried. As the alcohol had poured onto his bleeding knee, he simply winced, and gritted his teeth.

Quistis's mind trailed back to what had happened while she was sleeping. She honestly didn't know how to feel about the rape. She hadn't experienced it first hand........she'd been sleeping, but......it still felt like such a terrible violation. It made her want to cry again, so she shifted her attention back to Seifer. He was trying his best not to flinch badly when she applied Curaga enhanced cream to the bruises on his arms. He had been kind enough to take off his trenchcoat and shirt for her. She couldn't help but admire his well built torso as he sat on the Infirmary bed. Seifer had a solid six pack with impressive chest muscles. His arms weren't as thick as a tree trunk, but they looked strong enough to hold her tightly............._Wait! What the hell am I thinking? Seifer? Holding me?_ her inner voice screamed.

She shook her head and cleared such foolish notions from her mind.

"Thank you.........Quisty." Seifer said as she finished.

"I'd prefer if you'd call me Quistis." she said flatly.

"Why Quisty?" he used her nickname again.

"It makes me uncomfortable Seifer." Quistis squirmed.

"Why does it make you uncomfortable....?" he asked, standing up and moving closer to her.

"It just does...... and you standing this close to me makes me uncomfortable as well!!" she insisted.

Seifer put a hand on her cheek and caressed it. "Does that make you uncomfortable?"

"M-Most certainly!" she stammered.

"And what about this....." Seifer leaned in and touched his lips to hers. She was surprised to find herself kissing him back with an intensity she had never known existed in her. Seifer was a good kisser.

The door to the room opened, and the two quickly disengaged their kiss, only to find Dr. Kadowaki standing in the doorway, blanching.

"I was......just......uh........checking the......er.....wound on his........er........head." Quistis tried to explain.

"Oh sure!" Dr. Kadowaki grinned. "I think I'll just leave you two alone." and backed out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Seifer looked over at Quistis, and she looked over at him. Both broke down and laughed for some time before finally quieting down.

"So......." Seifer said, moving closer to her. "What are we gonna do about this?"

"What are we gonna do?" Quistis said, grabbing Seifer's shoulders and pressing her hips to his. Seifer shifted as he felt a circus starting up in his pants.

"Uh.....er.......yeah........" Seifer said huskily.

"I................." Quistis began. "Yes?" Seifer implored.

"Am gonna wish you a good night Seifer." she said, and gave him a peck on the lips before breaking their embrace.

"G'night Almasy..." Quistis said, smiling at him as she left the room.

"Dammit Quisty! You did that on purpose!" Seifer huffed.

Quistis chuckled as she found her clothes and changed back into them in the bathroom. _He actually thought I was going to do something with him. Especially after what happened tonight. The nerve..................He is really handsome though........_ That was typical Seifer Almasy, however, and she knew he was trying to change, but he still had to get rid of that cockiness of his....... then maybe.......well......hopefully..........

R&R time again!! I decided to sorta slip the beginnings of the Seiftis part of the story in. Man.........I still have almost NO reviews...................sux............oh well.

Next Chapter: I give the answer to what the quote was...........even though I'm pretty sure no one cared. Like I said.......Oh well.


	5. Squall Gives Chase

Disclaimer: Square-Enix characters own I do not!

Ok...........hope you guys liked the last chapter! Now on to Squall's search for the bad guys!

Squall Leonhart impatiently drummed his fingers on the arm of his seat in the Ragnarok's cockpit. Although Selphie flew with reckless, and angry abandon, they still hadn't caught up to McConnell and Jenkins. _They had a head start on us _he spoke to himself. Words couldn't begin to explain how enraged he was that one of his closest friends had been violated. When he caught up to them, there would be hell to pay.

"Any sign yet Selphie?" Squall broke the silence of the cockpit. Irvine, Zell, and Selphie looked over at him.

"No.... How could they have gotten so far already? They only had one of Garden's speedboats. The Ragnarok goes faster than that!" Selphie was frustrated.

"We'll get em Sefie." Irvine patted her on the back.

"Bastards.....When I get my hands on them!" Zell clenched a fist.

"We all share your sentiments Zell." Squall nodded.

"Tch.." Zell sat back.

"Seifer's gotta be really angry like I am!" Selphie said.

"Why Seifer?" Zell was oblivious to the fact that Seifer and Quistis had an energy between them. Squall chuckled to himself. He new that Seifer was angry........so angry that he had wanted to pursue the assholes, even though he was nearly beaten to death.

"Aw c'mon Zell! You can't tell me you haven't noticed that Seify likes Quisty!" Selphie grinned.

"Wha!? Quistis, and Seifer!?" Zell's jaw flapped open. The others shared a laugh.

"Hey! What's that down there?" Irvine pointed out the cockpit window. The speedboat sat in the water off the coast of Fisherman's Horizon.

"Fly down there Selphie." Squall commanded. Selphie adjusted the controls for descent, and soon they pulled up right next to the boat.

"Damn! There's no one in it!" Zell howled.

"But.........they'd be floating in the water still! FH isn't for a few more miles!" Selphie exclaimed.

"Something is afoot here. I don't like it...." Irvine said darkly.

"I agree." Squall nodded, "but we don't have diving suits on us. Here, give me the intercom radio." Squall motioned to Selphie, who handed him the mouthpiece.

"Home base......this is Lionheart, copy?"

"One moment sir." a female voice replied.

"Squall?" Seifer's voice came through the reciever.

"We located the boat, but there's no sign of McConnell or Jenkins. We think they may have gone underwater, but we don't have diving suits. Unless we can have them express delivered via mail, I think we're going to have to come back and investigate this later." Squall explained.

"Damn it! I fucking knew there was something wrong with those two!" Seifer roared.

"We'll find them Seifer, just not now." Irvine spoke into the comm.

"See you when you get back Commander Puber...er....Squall." Seifer corrected himself.

"10-4" Squall ended the conversation and turned off the comm.

"Allright Selphie. Let's get back to Garden." Squall ordered.

"Roger!" Selphie said, and turned the Ragnarok about.

A knock came at Quistis's door. She looked at herself in the mirror for a moment, and wiped away some of the mascara that had run down her face. She had been crying. _How else am I supposed to deal with being raped?_ she thought. Wondering who would knock on her door at 2 A.M., she got up from her bed and headed for the door that had just been repaired by Garden maintenance. She hoped it was Seifer, and not some Trepie come to tell her how sorry they were about what had happened. Three of them had already stopped by. She opened the door. Seifer's handsome, and now bandaged face greeted her. He leaned on the door frame for support, she supposed.

"Hello Seifer." she didn't feel like being crass at the moment.

"Can I come in?" Seifer asked politely. _That's strange... then again....it does seem he has a thing for me._

"Sure. Make yourself at home. You want something to drink? Eat?" Quistis headed for the kitchen.

"Yeah.... whiskey, if you have it." Seifer answered.

"Actually, you're in luck. I do have a bottle." Quistis smiled, and reached into her liquor cabinet, retrieving the promised bottle.

Seifer smiled, "Somehow I knew you had a liquor cabinet. I mean, you have to put up with so much shit all the time."

"I guess." she said, and handed him a glass, pouring Trabian whiskey into it.

"Thanks." Seifer took a gulp.

"So what did you come here for, other than to drink my booze?" Quistis inquired.

"I came to see if you're allright......and I came to tell you that Squall couldn't find them." Seifer lowered his eyes to the ground.

"What happened?" Quistis sat down next to him on the couch.

"He said that they pursued them and they found the boat, but there were no passengers. He also said it was likely they went underwater, but there were no diving suits on board the Ragnarok." Seifer explained.

"Oh." she acted uninterested, "How are your wounds doing, by the way?"

Seifer rubbed his patched up eye, "Better."

"Good."

"Yep."

"Hi sweetie!" Rinoa nearly tackled Squall as he descended the boarding ramp of Ragnarok.

"H-Hey!" Squall chuckled as he embraced Rinoa.

"Did you find them?" she asked.

"No." was his answer.

"That's too bad. I hope you do find them soon and kick their sorry asses for what they did to Quisty and Seifer!" Rinoa shook her fist.

"You cussed." Squall pointed out.

"So? Like you don't?" Rinoa smirked.

"Whatever..." Squall put his head in his palm.

"Where are Sefie and Irvine?" Rinoa inquired.

"Oh they're gonna take the Ragnarok to Balamb's hanger. Laguna's got it on loan to us for a while, so Selphie's gonna take a look at it and see if she can modify it a bit. Irvine's gonna help because he's a master in ballistics." Squall nodded towards the dragon-like ship.

"Well, I've been up waiting for you to get back all night, and it's bed time Mr.!" Rinoa wagged a finger at him.

"Whatever....I'm tired anyway." Squall nodded.

Seifer hated the uncomfortable silence that stood between them. He just wanted to take Quistis in his arms and tell her everything was going to be fine. He'd slaughter those fucking idiots in her name, and spit upon their corpses. Thinking about doing that wasn't a way to get it done, so he did it.

"Quisty........you'll be allright........I'll help you." Seifer said softly, as he embraced her.

"Seifer.....you're trying to be romantic and sympathetic, and you're coming off as a dork. You must really like me." she giggled.

"Yeah... I guess you could say that I do." Seifer smiled down at her.

"Seifer Almasy....when will you ever grow up?" Quistis chuckled.

"Never! I don't wanna grow up!" Seifer teased. Quistis snuggled in closer to him, and they both fell asleep before long.

Garret looked upon the two men trembling before him.

"You idiots. You complete fucking idiots!" he roared. They flinched.

"S-s-sir....I was just trying to save his sorry ass from serious trouble! He r-r-raped Quistis Trepe while she was sleeping s-s-sir! And then I had to patch up his dick becuase of Almasy! That took me extra time! They didn't track us though. They have no idea that your private chambers are under water!" Jenkins spoke up.

"McConnell..... please tell me something..... tell me.......why do you wish to ruin a perfectly good intelligence gathering mission..........ON ACCOUNT OF A FUCKING WOMAN!!?" Garret's eyeballs bulged in their sockets. The man wouldn't answer. Garret unsheathed his sword, and before the man could utter a cry, severed his head from his body. Jenkins gawked at the large amount of blood spilling out of the decapitated McConnell.

"You are a fool as well," Garret pointed at Jenkins, "my camera's captured images of the Ragnarok, nontheless, hovering directly over this area.... perhaps examining a certain BOAT THAT YOU TWO LEFT AS EVIDENCE.. YOU FUCKING FOOLS!!!" Garret swung his sword through the air emphasizing his fury.

"You are going to regret... ever......making a fool of me........" Garret said, and advanced on Jenkins.

"N-No sir!! PLEASE....AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRH!!!!" Jenkins's scream was not heard above water.

_The next morning, off the FH coast:_

"Allright everyone. Diving suits on and operational?" Seifer demanded.

"Check." from Squall.

"Check." Quistis nodded.

"Checkaroo!" Zell took a fighting stance.

"Rodger." Irvine said, setting his cowboy hat next to Selphie, in the co-pilot's chair.

"Allright people, on the count of three!" Seifer yelled, above the now screaming engines of Ragnarok. The cockpit door being open sure did change the decibel level.

"ONE.....TWO.....THREE!!" Seifer cried, and dove from the airship. The others followed behind him. They hit the surface roughly, and started their descent by filling the leg and thigh pockets in their suits with ocean water. Seifer reached into his pack and brought out a glowstick, snapping, and then shaking it. A cool green light graced the ocean floor and the immediate surrounding area. They hadn't found the bodies of either of the escapees. _Too bad..._ Seifer thought, then noticed something shining on the ocean floor below him. He touched a button on his control pad, which sat on his wrist.

"Looks like there's some metal down here." Seifer's voice broke comm silence, "I'm gonna take a look."

"Wait for us, Seifer." Squall spoke back.

"Waiting is all you want to do puberty boy! I'm ready for some fucking action!" Seifer said excitedly.

"Seifer... wait for us. Please." Quistis called out.

"Tch....fine..." Seifer shut up.

When the others reached him, he plunged forward into the depths, noticing that the metal was a pipe.....leading downwards. The pipe soon led to a larger pipe, which led to an even larger pipe, and then........what appeared to be an airlock.

"Pop it!" Zell exclaimed.

"Shut up Chicken-Wuss. They probably know we're comming. Don't you think they'd set a few traps for us?" Seifer said sternly.

"Grrr......" was Zell's only reply. Seifer carefully pried open the hatch, and sprung out of the way just in time to avoid a Fastitocalon shark that had been inside.

"I told you so Chicken-Wussy!" Seifer glowered.

The shark swam off in another direction and the party entered the airlock. Seifer closed the door, and activated the water drain. The water level lowered, and they all removed their helmets. The next door was easily opened. It opened to a hallway that eventually led to a main chamber.

"Hard to believe those fuck heads could construct something like this." Seifer remarked.

"I don't think this was their doing Seifer." Squall shook his head, "This is a base of operations."

Squall walked ahead of the group. The room was dark, and he tripped over something that bounced across the ground.

"Seifer, glowstick!" Squall called out. Seifer walked towards him and pointed the glowstick at the ground, only to pull back in disgust.

"Fucking shit! It's McConnell's fucking head!!" he screamed. The rest of the party was reasonably alarmed. Seifer reached into his pack again and threw a small disk at the wall. It imbeded itself and then started to glow a bright white. The chamber lit up like a baseball stadium, and all was seen. The rest of McConnell's body lay near what looked to be a controll terminal of some sort. Next to McConnell were a set of legs... cut off just below the knee.

"Help me......." came a sigh from behind the terminal. Squall circled around it to find Jenkins there, and apparently he was the owner of the missing legs.

Squall sighed and frowned, "Help you? You want US to help you?"

"Please! I was just doing my job!" Jenkins pleaded.

"Yeah fucking right you little weasel piece of shit!" Seifer had circled around the terminal after hearing Jenkins's voice.

"Garret....he made us do it!!" the man cried.

"Wait......Garret?" Seifer was astounded.

"So....the two incidents are linked. I knew something was going on." Squall surmised.

"More than you know lionheart.........more than you know." voice came from behind them.

Okay, so I know this was the shortest chapter, but there will be many more. I think this might be one of those 30 or so chapter fics. It's really in-depth. I have the whole story planned out already. I'm not gonna skimp on the updates. New chapters should be up every day or so. R&R in the meantime. Peace!


	6. The Confrontation, and the Aftermath

Disclaimer: The Square-Enix characters own themselves.

Garret laughed inwardly as the teenagers turned in surprise. _Good..._ he thought, he had the drop on them.

"We meet again Almasy." he sneered at Seifer.

"Well Garret, I can't say I'm not surprised to find you behind this shit, but really, couldn't you hire better help?" Seifer returned his sneer.

"Sadly, you are correct. Good help is hard to find. When I've found what I've been looking for, however, it will be YOU who needs the help." Garret laughed.

"Whatever you're up to, we're going to stop you." Squall stepped foreward.

"Ah Leonhart, so brave, such a martyr. Very well then, let us do battle!" Garret launched himself into the air, raising his already unsheathed sword and leveling it downwards, towards Squall. Squall stepped out of the way with lightning quick reflexes, and pulled a gun from his pack, firing at Garret, who now rolled to avoid being shot. Seifer had managed to carry Hyperion along with him in a sealed case, which he then opened, and produced his weapon from. He joined the fray, slashing wildly at Garret, who met Seifer's slashes with his sword.

"This time it's gonna be a REAL fight Garret, not a GF stomp down!" Seifer cried.

"Don't be so hasty in your assumptions, Almasy, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve." Garret grinned, and began to summon a spell.

"He's summoning Ultima!!" Irvine pointed at Garret. The spell took effect, knocking the party back into the floor.

"And now for the final blow!" Garret yelled, summoning his new GF. Ultima Weapon appeared, apparently unscathed from Squall's conflict with it during the Sorceress War, and performed it's deadly Ultima Beam that hit everyone before they could react. The GF returned to it's master's brain, waiting for a time to be called again.

"Tsk tsk, and no Rinoa around to revive you or cast Full-Life. Too bad. Rot in the depths of the sea!" Garret chuckled as he spat on the corpse of Almasy. _Too easy..._ he thought, and headed for the airlock.

_10 minutes later...._

A glow began to appear in the room, above the fallen teens. The glow quickly turned red, and soon the whole room was engulfed in the light. Phoenix appeared in a great flash in the middle of the room, casting Full-Life on the entire party. It's job done, the bird retreated to the dimension from which it came.

"Ugh.......are we alive?" Squall sat up.

"Booya! Phoenix came to rescue us! See! There's a plume from it's tail!" Zell pointed at a large rainbow feather which nearly floated above the ground.

"Ah shit......what happened?" Seifer sat up and shook his head.

"We just got beaten....." was Squall's reply.

"Let's get the hell outta here." Irvine pointed to the ceiling, which had been burst open, water flowing into the room at a decent pace.

"I hear you there!" Zell ran for the exit.

_On Ragnarok, five minutes later...._

"I'm sooo glad you're ok Irvy!" Selphie squeezed Irvine.

"Ow....Selphie, don't squeeze me so hard." Irvine complained.

"I thought you were a man!" Selphie sulked, and sat down in the pilot's seat.

"Just get us home Selphie......" Squall pointed out the window.

"Roger that!" Selphie veered the ship to the left, and slammed on the throttle, causing everyone to take a step back.

_On the passenger deck of Ragnarok, same time:_

"You okay Quisty?" Seifer sat down in the chair adjacent to Quistis's.

"I'm fine. You?" Quistis looked up.

"I've been through worse, and you know that from first hand experience." Seifer smirked.

"Yes. I didn't enjoy battling with you though..." Quistis did not smile back.

"So.... to change the subject......what's going on....ya know....with us?" Seifer looked her in the eyes.... his pleading silently to her.

"I don't know Seifer.... I don't know. I mean, you come back, and you're just as cold to me as you've always been, and then you're nice, and then cold again. So I should be asking you what's going on!" Quistis flared up.

"Me acting cold again!? When!?" Seifer was taken aback.

"Whenever we get in a battle situation, you always ignore me. You act like I'm not there. I don't need any damn proteciton from you Seifer, but it'd be nice if you offered it even still!" Quistis snapped, and stood up, stomping out the door.

"Hyne....women...." Seifer sighed, and put his head in his palm.

"Hey. That's my gesture of disgust." a voice came from the seat next to him. Squall had silently crept into the room. "What's wrong with Quistis? She looked quite angry in the hall."

"I dunno Squall. I'm no expert on women." Seifer waved a hand.

"Well.... you could tell me what's going on......." Squall said hesitantly.

"Whoa.... Squall. Before your Mr. Ice now you're Mr. Nice? What the hell!?" Seifer looked up in amazement.

"Look. Rinoa's taught me that holding emotions or problems inside, and trying to deal with them yourself, is a bad idea. She's taught me to voice my concerns, and really talk with my friends...........sort of let them know what I'm thinking." Squall explained.

"Does it work for you?" Seifer chuckled.

"Yes.... actually, it does." Squall nodded.

"Fine.......Quitis and I kind of have some energy between us." Seifer gestured with his hands.

"Like everyone hasn't noticed that already." Squall scoffed.

"Right.......well, I kinda kissed her in the Infirmary." Seifer went on, "and just now I asked her what was going on between us.... and she said that I don't pay enough attention to her. Something about me not being attentive of her in battle situations. I guess she's taking what happened in Garret's base as an example." Seifer shook his head.

"Seifer..... Quistis has a lot to deal with right now. As much as she puts up a front that she's tough, and she can handle herself..........she can't." Squall pointed out.

Seifer sighed, "I guess I'd better apologize or something."

"That would help..." Squall nodded.

_Ragnarok Engine Room, three minutes later....._

"Hiya Quisty... "Seifer walked in to find Quistis staring at the cooling tanks.

"Seifer..." Quistis nodded.

"Look.... I'm sorry, Ok? I should have said something." Seifer scratched his head.

"I'm sorry too. It's just that..........well.......you're not the most attentive guy Seifer. You're too much of a loner. I am too, but I'm not sure I could handle a relationship with another person like me....." Quistis hadn't looked at him yet.

"....." Seifer struggled with words, but none would come to him. Finally, "Quisty.... I'm.........here for you.......ok? If you need anything......I'm here." he finished, and opened the door.

"Seifer! Wait!" Quistis suddenly called out to him.

"Yes?" he turned around. Quistis walked up to him, and embraced him, kissing him pationately. Seifer returned the kiss, and moved his hands to her hips, her arms finding their way around his neck. She put a gloved hand through his hair as their kiss intensified, gripping and brushing it softly. After a moment they broke the kiss, and neither had anything to say, so they embraced again, Quistis laying her head against Seifer's warm chest.

_Later... back at Garden:_

The Ragnarok settled down in Balamb Garden's hanger, and the party descended the ramp. Seifer and Quistis were the last two out. Seifer had his arm hooked around Quistis's waist, and Quistis had done the same to Seifer.

"Aw....how cute!" Selphie whispered to Irvine. Irvine chuckled at seeing Quistis Trepe and Seifer Almasy acting like a couple. He hadn't been around for their teenage years, but he'd heard of the arguments and battles they'd had. He also remembered when they were kids and Seifer used to tease Quistis on a regular basis.

"How times change..." Irvine murmered.

"They sure do." Squall looked over, only to be nearly toppled by Rinoa.

"Squall! I'm so glad you're back!" Rinoa planted many kisses on his cheek.

"Rinoa! You should be resting! Dr. Kadowaki nearly had a conniption over you coming here to greet me last time we came back!" Squall hollered.

"Oh I'm fine! Remember Squall.... I'm a sorceress..... I was healing myself from the inside out the whole time!" Rinoa winked at him.

"Well good, because we're probably going to need you on upcoming missions." Seifer said as he and Quistis reached the group.

"What the....?" Rinoa was a bit confused about Seifer and Quistis in the postition they currently held.

"Quistis and Seifer... sittin in a tree......k-i-s-s...." Zell was interrupted by a swat from Seifer.

"Shut the hell up Chicken-Wuss!" Seifer was only mildly irritated.

"You're still NO FUN Seifer!!" Zell snorted and ran off towards the caffeteria.

"Oooh oooh! Can I be the maid of honor?" Rinoa jumped up and down excitedly.

"Can I be the wedding designer!?" Selphie spoke up.

"Cool it people. No one said anything about a wedding!" Quistis said sternly.

As Seifer and Quistis headed off towards Quistis's apartment, Selphie yelled out, "YET!"

_Quistis's apartment, a few minutes later......_

"Would you like some more whiskey?" Quistis reached into her liquor cabinet.

"No thanks, just some.....er..... Southern Comfort I guess....." Seifer sat down on the couch.

"That's Irvine's usual drink..." Quistis remarked.

"How would you know?" Seifer fumed in jealousy.

"Squall takes us out the BalambBar once in a while." Quistis chuckled.

"Oh.....sorry." Seifer turned red.

"It's okay. See? That's how I'd like you to be.... just pay a little more attention to me." Quistis smiled.

"You haven't changed a bit Quisty. You always wanted to be center of attention, and you were always batttling me for it...." Seifer remembered fondly.

"Oh come on Seifer, you know who's attention I was REALLY trying to get..." Quistis put her hands on her hips.

"Squall, I know......." Seifer nodded.

"No, you fool! You!" Quistis was angry.

"Oh....well you always seemed to like Squall better!" Seifer sounded like a little boy.

"Seifer....it was just my feelings of being a big sister to him. You're my age.......not younger. I always had feelings for you, but you pushed everyone away as you got older." Quistis explained.

"So........you weren't in love with Squall?" Seifer asked.

"Not really... I mean, I thought I was, but the GF caused me to forget why I loved him in the first place. I wasn't romantically attracted to him... I just loved him like a little brother." Quistis smiled.

"Have a seat." Seifer patted the area next to him on the couch. Quistis complied and sat down, pouring herself a glass of Irvine's favorite drink. Seifer hesitantly put his arm around her.

"Getting comfy aren't we?" Quistis teased. Seifer responded by leaning over and kissing her. Once again, they both felt that burning intensity they had felt on the Ragnarok. Both set down their drinks on her coffee table and lost themselves in the kiss.

Before Seifer knew what was going on, he was unbuttoning Quistis's pink blouse. She didn't stop him, but instead pushed his trenchcoat off and tossed it on the floor without breaking their kiss.

He removed her blouse and felt around her back until his hands discovered her bra clasp. He undid it, and tossed her bra on the floor along with her blouse. He broke the kiss for a moment to admire her ample breasts, then continued to the task of taking off her boots, which was an easy one. Quistis had already begun unbuttoning his blue an grey shirt as he unzipped her skirt. She stood up with him, and let the skirt fall to the floor. She was wearing a black lace thong that suited her perfectly. She bit her lip in a sexy way and unbuttoned his pants. Seifer kicked off his boots as his pants dropped to the ground. Quistis removed his now unbuttoned vest and tossed it on the couch. She moved her hands over his well-chisled chest muscles, bringing them lower until she felt his solid six-pack. She stood back up and embraced him again... tugging at his blue and grey plaid boxers. Seifer followed her into her room. Once there, she pushed him onto the bed, and climbed on top of him, kissing him pationately. She sat back and let him pull off her panties, and then tugged his boxers off. He was ready, so she climbed back on top of him, and brought the blanket up behind her because she was cold.

In the quiet solitude of Quistis's room, she and Seifer made love slowly and pationately, enjoying every second......

Allright! Quistis and Seifer hooked up! R&R. Oh btw, I forgot to post the answer to the quote I used. It's from the book and later of Attraction. One of my favorites, to say the least. Next chapter coming soon to a near you!


	7. Dollet

Disclaimer: Square-Enix is too busy filing a lawsuit against their own characters for intillectual rights to worry about me writing about said characters.

Time for chapter 7! Thank you to everyone for your reviews.

The vid-phone rang. Seifer reached over and picked it up out of habbit. He had been sleeping before it rang, and was not pleased with being woken up.

"What?" Seifer said a bit nastily to the screen.

"Seifer?" Squall's face appeared on screen.

"Whaddya want? It's......Hyne.......5:30......" Seifer growled.

"Well I was trying to reach Quistis, but I see she's still asleep." Squall smirked. It was then that Seifer realized he had answered Quistis's phone.

"Shh.... don't wake her up. She'd rip my head off if she knew I answered." Seifer pointed to the sleeping figure next to him.

"Well then," Squall lowered his voice a bit, "when she wakes up, tell here that.......ah......YOU need her to go over some tactical info about Garret." Squall saluted and hung up. Seifer cut the phone's power and rolled over in bed, draping one arm across Quistis. _Hyne...she sleeps like a bear_ he thought, and fell asleep.

_On a train bound for Dollet:_

Garret allowed himself a moment of mirth despite the boring train ride. The Balamb kids had survived after all. He had watched from his submersible as they had been picked up by their ship, and taken back to Garden. He had been angry, of course, but then he realized he was glad that Almasy had survived. He was surely a kink in the hose of Garret's project, but nothing more. He would be disposed of when the time came.

Garret looked down at his laptop and reviewed his map for the tenth time that trip. Esthar was a huge continent, larger than Galbadia. _Damn...she could be anywhere..._ he thought for the tenth time. All of his attempts to penetrate Esthar had resulted in defeat or embarassment, but that would soon change. His team of scientists and his spies in the Esthar network were going to get him in. Then he would find her....and when he found her, she would recognize him as her savior, and give him the dreams once again........

_Back at Garden:_

"Good morning Quisty." Seifer said through a mouthful of toothpaste.

"Morning Seify." she smiled.

"Quisty....please....don't call me that." he stopped brushing his teeth to speak, then resumed the task.

"Fine.... good morning Seifer." she poked his ribs.

"Thafsh better." he sloshed.

"By the way, I meant to ask you why you answered my phone this morning...." Quistis crossed her arms.

"What do you mean?" Seifer spat out the toothpaste.

"I checked my log and it said Squall called." Quistis raised an eyebrow, "at five thirty."

"Look. I'm sorry......it's just a force of habbit, and I was half-asleep. I didn't even think about where I was." Seifer apoligized.

"Seifer...it's okay. I wasn't mad. I was just joking... but what did Squall have to say?" Quistis came up behind and wrapped her arms around him, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"He said he needs you to go over some of the tactical information on Garret." Seifer leaned his head on hers.

"Well, go get dressed and report for duty, and I'll be out after a shower." Quistis nodded towards the shower stall.

"Sure you don't want me to join you?" Seifer grinned.

"No Seifer... I'm quite worn out after last night." Quistis patted his chest.

"I never thought in a million years......" he was cut off by Quistis kissing him. After they broke their kiss, he got dressed and left her room, locking the door behind him.

_Dollet Pub_

"So did you get the information I asked for?" Garret inquired.

"I sure did." the Estharian guard, now out of his uniform, answered.

"Give me the disk." Garret held a hand up.

"Give me my money!" the guard snapped.

"Here." Garret reached into his cloak pocket and produced 3,000 gil.

"Here." the guard said, and handed him the disk.

"Nice doing business with you." the guard said, and strutted out of the pub. Garret made a mental note of the man's face for later extermination. Rude people shouldn't exist. Then again... he could be a rude person once in a while, so that made him a hypocrit. No matter, that was all the world was full of these days anyway, so why couldn't he be one?

He popped the disk into his computer's drive, and opened the information file. Schematics of Esthar graced the computer screen. He carefully examined the entry point recommended by the guard and pulled out his comm phone. After pressing a button, he sat back in his booth.

"Hello? You're not going to believe this." Garret spoke into the comm.

"Yes... I've got our entry point. Our drill specialists are prepared, correct? Excellent. The boats are prepared as well? That's more good news than I hoped for..... what?......yes...of course you'll have your precious possesion back.......NO...... Listen.....when I make promises, I keep them.............Keep doubting me and you'll pay for it NORG...."

_Balamb Garden, floor 3:_

"What have you got Squall?" Seifer entered Squall's office.

"Just a recording of our conversation with Garret...." Squall answered.

"He say anything useful to us?" Seifer pulled a chair behind Squall's desk and sat down.

"He said something about when he finds what he's looking for.... you'll need help." Squall pressed a button and played the discussed portion of the taping.

"What could he be looking for that's so important?" Seifer rubbed his chin. A beard was beginning to grow, and he had no intention of shaving it off.

"I dunno, but apparently it's something big." Squall turned off the monitor of his laptop. "Come on, we're going to Dollet."

"Why Dollet?" Seifer inquired.

"While we were in Garret's lair, I noticed a train ticket purchased in Timber that ran from Winhill to Dollet. I hadn't thought about it before, but I realized this morning when I called that Winhill is near the coastline. If Garret had a submersible of some sort, he could have piloted it to shore and after ditching it, taken that train to Dollet." Squall explained.

"Yeah, but if he was in Dollet yesterday, wouldn't he be gone today?" Seifer scratched his head.

"I thought of that. The ticket was a round-trip. The second ride, from Dollet back to Winhill, was scheduled for 2:00 today." Squall said, opening the door to his office.

"Well it's 11:00 now, so I think we should get the hell outta here before he can get on that train." Seifer stormed out of Squall's office, Squall close on his heels.

_Dollet Beach, an hour later:_

Squall descended from the ramp first, followed by Seifer and Zell. They had run into Zell on their way out and he'd volunteered to go. They had left the women behind because battles got confusing when everyone was involved. A small and efficient team could handle this job.

"Allright. Let's split up," Squall began giving orders, "Seifer, you take the Town Square. You're familiar with it.... and Zell, you take the Comm tower. If the Galbadians give you trouble, you have my permission to........er.....incapacitate them. I'll take the pub. We meet at the Town Square in an hour. Keep your comm units on, and if one of you spots him, radio it, and wait for backup. Got it?" Squall finished.

"Yessir Commander Puberty." Seifer mock saluted, then sauntered off. Squall chuckled at this.

"You got it... BOOYA!" Zell took off running towards the Comm Tower.

With Seifer and Zell gone, Squall had some time to call Rinoa and explain why he left her behind.

"Hello?" her voice came over his comm.

"Hi Rin.......it's me....Look, I'm sorry I left you behind......but......"

"I know Squall. It gets confusing when everyone is mixed up in the battle. I'll see you when you get back. And Squall? Stay safe......." Rinoa cut the transmission. Squall was relieved she wasn't angry. He replaced the comm link on his belt and headed for the city.

_The Dollet Town Square:_

Seifer laughed as he entered the Town Square. It had been a long time since he'd last been to Dollet, during his third field exam. Everything looked the same as it had 8 months before. He was enjoying the sound of the fountain when a dog walked up to him and barked.

"I remember you...." Seifer knelt down and patted the dog. Before, on the mission, he hadn't had patience for the animal, and had nearly killed it with Hyperion. _I've done some growing up since then...._ he thought as he ruffled the dog's hair. He stood up, thinking where to look first. Then he realized he should call Quistis and tell her why he left her behind. He took his comm link from his coat pocket and sent a transmission to Quistis's.

"Hello Seifer..." was the answer.

"How'd you know it was me?" he asked.

"I knew you'd call up and apologize for leaving me behind. Don't worry though, I'm not mad. I'm actually in no condition to fight. That was sweet on your part to not include me." Quistis giggled over the comm.

"Uh....okay....I was just thinking of that when I left, and I didn't want you to get hurt." Seifer repaired what he had been about to say.

"Well, be careful and come back in one piece. By the way... how's your eye?" Quistis asked, concerned.

"It's fine I guess. I could take off the bandage." Seifer answered.

"No! I don't think you should for a few more days." Quistis chided.

"Okay Quisty. Well I'll see ya when I get back. Keep it warm for me...." Seifer teased.

"You pig! Allright....I will......" Quistis replied mock-angrily, and ended the transmission. Seifer put his comm link back in the pocket and began unwrapping his bandage.

"Ah.......that's better." he said, seeing out of his hurt eye for the first time in a few days. He tossed the bandage in a nearby trash bin and walked over to an electronics store. The window was polarized, so it acted as a mirror for him. He examined his face and found to his satisfaction that the swelling had gone down, and there was only a dark red wound where he had been hit with the baton. The blood had dried and the wound was beginning to heal. It would leave a scar, though not as prominent as the one on his forehead. His examination complete, he walked into the Dollet Hotel to check the guest list.

_The Comm Tower:_

"Hold it there son. This Communications Tower is Galbadian territory and is restricted. You can't pass." a Galbadian soldier blocked Zell's path. Zell hated the prissy G-Sol's in the red uniforms. They always had a bad attitude about them, and were, like, totally uncool.

"I'm a SeeD bro! I'm in Dollet on an investigation and I just need to take a quick look around." Zell tried the diplomatic approach.

"SeeD huh? Tell me why I should let a SeeD by. You wanna sabotage our equipment? Huh? I don't think I'll let you pass. In fact, I think I'm going to arrest you on suspicion of terrorism." the G-Sol reached into a pack on his belt and retrieved some energy cuffs.

"If you really think you can get those on me... BRING IT ON!!" Zell hollered.

"You little shit! You asked for it!" the guard advanced on him, only to find himself on the ground, staring at the sky as his vision faded to darkness.

"Booya! Zell one, enemies ZERO!!" Zell congradulated himself. As he approached the tower, two G-Sol's in blue uniforms emerged from the entrance.

"Hey you! Are you supposed to be here?" one of them asked.

"Yeah! I'm a SeeD on an investigation and I just need to take a look around." Zell explained to them, careful not to mention that their commander lay in a heap down the path a bit.

"That sounds suspicious...." the other guard said to the first.

"Yeah it does....... it sounds like a sabotage attempt." the first said.

"No guys... Look, I'm lookin for a dude named Garret... ok? He's been causing some trouble lately in Balamb, and SeeD has reason to believe that he's here in Dollet, so I just need to take a small tour and see if he's hiding out here." Zell held up a hand.

"Oh! Sure! C'mon this way. I'm pretty sure there's no one here named Garret, but we'll give you a little tour. Be aware Mr. SeeD, if we see you doing anything suspicious, we'll take you down!" the first guard gestured towards the entrance to the tower.

"I promise I'll be on my best behavior! Oh!......and uh.......I kinda had to knock your commander out back there. He wouldn't let me pass." Zell had to brag.

"You wha? Oh well, Commander Zim is an asshole anyway......." the first guard chuckled, and the other nodded in agreement. "C'mon, we'd better show you around before he wakes up."

_Dollet Pub:_

Squall found the entrance to the pub, and walked in. He immediately ducked behind another patron, as he had spotted Garret in a small booth towards the back of the bar, apparently engrossed in something on his laptop computer.

"Er.... can I help you sir?" the girl behind the bar asked.

"Yeah.... that guy over there is a felon, and I'm a SeeD here to arrest him. I need you to keep it cool while I call for backup." Squall said pointedly.

"I didn't know SeeD's were like cops!" the girl said in amazement.

"Well, we're not actually going to arrest him. We're going to beat him up and take him to Garden for trial." Squall told her truthfully.

"That's cool. He's kinda creepy anyway, and he's been snapping at me all day. I shoulda known something was wrong with him. Hey!.......Bear!" the girl called over a bouncer.

"Yeah?" the bouncer leaned on the bar. He was huge. Easily twice Squall's size.

"Can you cover this guy while he makes it upstairs? He's a SeeD on a manhunt!" the girl said in an excited whisper.

"Sure." the bouncer said, and snatched Squall in one arm. The bouncer had him in a headlock, and led him upstairs, careful to keep him on the opposite side from Garret's field of vision. When they reached the casino, the bouncer let him go and said, "Go get him boss." and walked back downstairs. Squall rubbed his neck. The bouncer hadn't needed to be so rough. Guess he'd thought to make it a little more realistic. Squall sighed and activated his comm link.

"Zell, Seifer... he's at the pub. I need you two here...now." Squall spoke into the comm.

"Roger Squall!" came Zell's voice.

"Dammit Squall, I was trying to eat here!" came Seifer's voice.

"You what!?" Squall was taken aback.

"Never mind. I'll be there before Chicken-Wuss." Seifer cut the comm.

Squall put the comm on his belt, relieved that Seifer would be here first. Zell was a notorious hot head. Then again... so was Seifer. But Seifer knew when to keep his cool, and now was one of those times. Squall couldn't think of a plausible way to apprehend Garret without causing civillian casualties. He rubbed his eyes in frustration. _Wait...._ he thought......._Maybe that would work......._

Thugstra- I do tend to describe many things in detail. Considering Seifer is my fave character, I wanted to make him hot.

sulou- I know that Squall and Seifer made up a little quickly, but you've gotta understand that it's 4 months after FF8.... and Seifer's had a LOT to think about.

Unity-Song- I always viewed Squall and Rinoa's relationship as a cute one.

Thanks all! Keep reviewing!

I decided to re-write a fic I started on a year ago, The Happiest Moment. I've decided that Storm Before The Calm will be the first part in a trilogy set after the events of FF8. The Happiest Moment will be the second in the trilogy, and I'll finish it off with a fic I've been juggling about for some time. The Trilogy will be as follows: Storm Before The Calm: 4 months after FF8; The Happiest Moment v.2: a year after FF8; and Twilight of Destruction: 2 years after FF8. I hope you people enjoy all three. When I'm done with this fic, I shall release the second in the trilogy, since most of it's done anyway, and then I'll wrap it up. R&R in the meantime!


	8. Subterfuge

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Square-Enix characters! If I did, I wouldn't have to write this fan fic.......I'd just make a sequel myself!

Sorry for not updating in a while peeps. Here goes........

"What kind of half-baked idea is that!?" Seifer asked through the comm unit.

"One that could work! Have some faith in Squall, yo!" Zell chided.

"I didn't ask for you opinion Chicken-Wuss." Seifer snarled.

"I think it'll work Seifer." Squall butted in.

"Okay........let me get this straight. I'm supposed to walk in there, sit down with Garret, convince him that you've had me under mind control, and that I'll serve him if we can find the ? Is that what I'm hearing?" Seifer was not calm. Not one bit.

"Right." Squall said.

"Allright........fine......but just make sure you and Zell are there to back me up when things get ugly." Seifer gave up.

"Rodger that!" Zell said.

"We're SeeD's.....we'll do our job." Squall said darkly.

Seifer sighed and put the comm unit back in his coat. _This is not gonna be fun...._his inner voice told him. Seifer pushed the door of the bar open and walked inside. Enough of the people recognized him that a collective gasp filled the air. Seifer nonchalantley strolled over to Garret's booth and said down opposite to him.

"Give me one good reason not to make this bar another crater in the ground, and you with it." Garret didn't look up from his laptop.

"I wanna join you." Seifer said simply.

Garret looked up. "Excuse me?"

"I wanna join you." Seifer repeated.

"Why the sudden change of heart Mr. Almasy?" Garret narrowed his eyes.

"I............I........want.......the dreams......again." Seifer said truthfully.

"I see." Garret tapped his fingers on the table. "So you want to help me find the Sorceress so she can give you the dreams I should have had."

"No! I mean.....I won't hog the Sorceress this time! I promise!" Seifer blanched.

"Hmm.......I could use your help. I'm undertaking a huge task at the moment." Garret looked back to his laptop.

"What kind of task?" Seifer inquired.

"Well.......before I tell you anything, you must pledge loyalty to me.......and only me......and you must kiss my boot." Garret stood up.

_I can't do it.....I'm gonna blow......._Seifer thought, but managed to retain his calm somehow.

"I pledge loyalty to you and only you Sir Garret, and give my position of Sorceress Knight to you." Seifer knelt down and mock-kissed Garret's boot. Garret thought the kiss was genuine and said, "Rise then.....Sir Almasy. You are now a Knight under my power."

"Let us speak of plans." Garret sat back down, as did Seifer. While both were adjusting their seats, Seifer whispered quietly into his comm unit, "You guys hearing all of this?" before replacing it in his pocket.

"Yeah!" came Zell's answer.

"What was that?" Garret looked suspicious.

"I said.......yeah......let's discuss plans." Seifer covered Zell's tracks.....he was going to kick the Chicken-Wuss's ass for that one.

"Very well. Master NORG and I are planning to gain access to Esthar in order to search for the remains of Sorceress Adel. Only she can bring Ultimecia back." Garret began.

"Wait.......how do you expect to get past Esthar's shield? I remember Ultimecia complaining about that. The only way we got through it when we did was to find their secret entrance.......which has been sealed for like four months now." Seifer interrupted.

"Exactly. Therein lies the plan. We need no secret entrance. I have several drill teams standing by at this moment to drill into the coastline of Esthar.......which.......in case you didn't already know.......is comprised solely of cliffs. Once underground, we can drill past the shield and reach Esthar from below." Garret explained, satisfied with his plan.

"Hey. You're a smart guy. I never would have given you the credit before....but man...." Seifer new Garret would like the compliment and gloat.

"Yes Almasy. Many of the brightest in this world are overlooked by heathens such as yourself. I came from a wealthy family, and I should be treated with due respect." Garret scoffed.

"Yes, sir." Seifer bowed his head.

"So they had you under mind control did they? How did they accomplish that?" Garret was curious.

"Edea....." Seifer said plainly.

"Ah....of course.........the useless shell that our goddess once inhabited." Garret mused.

Seifer felt his blood boil at Garret's comment, but kept his temper in check. "Yes.....the one and only. She still has some vague Sorceress powers, and she exherted them over me."

"Yes........yes......of course she would still have powers." Garret rubbed his chin. "She will be dealt with when the time comes."

"Of course, sir." Seifer nodded. Seifer knew all he needed to know, and waved for the bartender. After a moment of her not responding he said, while clicking his comm on, "Any time now."

Squall suddenly bolted down the stairs of the bar and leapt across the room, tackling Garret even as he stood up. Zell burst through the doors and cast Sleep on the accosted man before he could react.

"Well..........I have to admit Squall, that was easier than I thought it would be." Seifer nodded in approval.

"I told ya it would work!" Zell pumped a fist into the air.

"Zell, stop doing your stupid victory dance and help me with this heavy son of a bitch." Squall snapped. Zell stooped down and picked up Garret by the arms while Squall took his legs.

Seifer turned to the bartender on the way out, "Hey.......sorry about the mess." and flipped her a gil coin. The stunned bartender could only gawk at the shattered dishes around Garret's table.

_Garden, a half an hour later......._

Squall was headed to the elevator after eating dinner at the cafeteria. Rinoa hadn't been at his room, nor in the LIbrary, so he had guessed she was probably in class on the 2nd floor.

"Hey Squall!" a voice came from behind him. Squall turned to see Irvine running up.

"You get anything from that Garret fella?" Irvine inquired.

"Not so far. He hasn't spoken to us, just grinned. We put him in a magic reinforced cell and took away all his GF's and magic, as well as his weapon. He has nothing to gain and nothing to loose, and he still won't talk." Squall explained.

"Let me know if you get anything out of him." Irvine said and turned to leave.

"Wait.......Seifer got something out of him. Zell and I overheard their conversation." Squall motioned for Irvine to come back.

"Oh yeah. Zell was tellin me about your crazy plan." Irvine walked back over to him.

"He said that he and master NORG, of all beings, are planning on drilling into Esthar and finding Adel's remains." Squall summarized.

"What does he want Adel's remains for?" Irvine asked.

Squall shrugged, "That's what we're trying to find out. He said something about her being the only way to ressurect Ultimecia."

Irvine took a step back, "If that's the case, my friend, we need to get a move on and stop this before it happens!"

Squall nodded, "We all need sleep though, so we'll get on it bright and early. Since you and Selphie have had plenty, I suggest you two run flight checks on the Ragnarok and get it fully equipped."

Irvine punched his fists together, "We'll get right on it."

Squall continued to the elevator and punched the button for the 2nd floor. Once he arrived, he walked down the hall and stepped into the classroom. Xu, who was instructing the class at the moment, gave him a wry look and shook her head. Squall ignored her and walked quietly to the back of the class, sitting next to Rinoa at a very familiar computer terminal.

"When does class end?" Squall whispered.

"In about ten minutes." Rinoa responded without looking up from her terminal. Instead of studying, she was reviewing the B-Garden Message Board on the Internet. "Why don't you wait for me on the balcony?" she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

Squall nodded and made his way back out of the classroom. On the way, Xu made a smooching face at him, to which he responded with his middle finger. He walked down the hall a bit more after leaving the classroom and opened the door to the 2nd Floor balcony. He was surprised to see Quistis and Seifer standing there, admiring the sunset. Seifer had one arm hooked around Quistis's waist, and both of hers were locked around his chest. Squall felt a sudden rush of emotions that was entirely alien to him. The scene was........well......romantic. He didn't want to bother them, but Rinoa dashed his honorable intentions.

"Aw! How cute!" she cried, and ran onto the balconly. Seifer and Quistis turned to face their visitors. Seifer raised an eyebrow and Quistis grinned.

"Come to join us Squall?" Seifer asked.

"I didn't know you two were up here." Squall scratched his head.

"If you want we can leave..." Quistis began.

"Noo!" Rinoa interrupted. "There's more than enough room for all of us.......right Squall?" Rinoa put her hands on her hips.

"Whatever." was Squall's reply.

"Congradulations on a mission well done." Seifer shook Squall's hand.

"I told you my plan would work....." Squall smirked.

Seifer held his chin up, "Hey...if it weren't for my brilliant acting skills.......it WOULDN'T have worked."

"Oh shut up, both of you." Quistis snapped. "Don't you realize that you make better team-mates than rivals?"

Seifer and Squall regarded each other, knowing she was right.

"Quistis and I were having a talk........." Seifer began.

"I know where this is going.......and no." Squall cut him off.

"Yeah, but come on Squall, you know I'm up for the job." Seifer insisted.

"No. Absolutely not. I'm not appointing you Lt. Commander." Squall shook his head.

"Who ever said anything about Lt. Commander." Seifer grinned.

"Then what are you getting at?" Squall narrowed his eyebrows. Seifer's grin widened.

"NO!" Squall chopped his hand through the air in a familiar gesture.

"C'mon Squall. You know you need help running this place." Seifer chuckled.

"Give me one good reason........" Squall said flatly.

"I'll do half the paperwork." Seifer offered.

"..................................Done.............." Squall agreed, eliciting a chuckle from everyone. It was a well known fact that Squall despised paperwork. "Sure you're ready for this Seifer?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Seifer offered his hand. Squall shook it, and pulled Seifer into a friendly hug. Seifer, shocked by Squall's display of emotion, hugged back uncertainly. Squall broke the embrace.

"You know you've always been my best friend." Squall said truthfully.

"Hey.....don't go getting mushy on me Commander Puberty." Seifer was disgusted.

"Seifer........" Quistis chided.

"Allright..........yeah.....I do know Squall. I mean, we've been rivals, but it was always a friendly kinda rival thing. I never........wanted to kill you, just best you."

"Seifer.....you know we're evenly matched. I mean......look at our scars. We've both had our share of victories and defeats. Now is the time to put that behind us and work together. If you really want to be Commander of the Garden along side me........you're going to have to accept responsibility for your actions. I want a full apology for what happened before the Sorceress War." Squall finished.

"An apology?" Seifer sneered. "For what?"

"Seifer........you know you tormented the students here. You abused your power as head of the D.C." Squall frowned.

"Allright...........fine...........whatever it takes to prove to you I've changed." Seifer said.

"Seifer..........I already know you've changed........I think you need to know." Squall nodded.

"It's settled then......" Seifer said. Quistis embraced Seifer and Rinoa followed suit with Squall.

_This should be fun......_ Squall's inner voice told him. With Seifer as acting Commander alongside him.......the Garden was likely to go through some interesting changes. _Oh well.... It had to happen some time........_ Squall came out of his trance and realized he was staring at Quistis's derrier. Seifer's eyes had widened and he wagged a finger at Squall, and both chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Quistis enquired, breaking her embrace with Seifer.

"Oh nothing......Puberty Boy was staring at your ass." Seifer grinned.

"WHAT!!?" yelled both women.

"Hey! Rinoa......don't take it so bad.....I was staring at your ass too!" Seifer tried to fix the situation.

"WHAT!!?" both women yelled again. Seifer and Squall slowly backed away from the angry women.

"I don't think that helped the situation......." Squall muttered.

"I don't think so !" Seifer shouted, and both bolted through the door into Garden, closely followed by two very angry women.

_Squall's room, a few minutes later......_

"Hah! You thought we wouldn't find you here! It was one of the most obvious places to look!" Rinoa railed the two young men seated on the couch.

"Why were you checking out Rinoa!?" Quistis roared at Seifer.

"Yeah! How come you were giving Quisty the once over?" Rinoa was equally loud towards Squall.

"Ladies.......ladies.......I don't see why you're overreacting like this. There's no reason to be jealous." Seifer shrugged. _Bad move......_ Squall gave Seifer a dirty look.

Quistis was about to pull her Save the Queen out and show Seifer the meaning of "overreaction" when suddenly an idea sprang forth. She turned and winked at Rinoa, unnoticed by the men. Rinoa was about to inquire as to the purpose of the wink, when Quistis walked over and stradled Squall. Quistis was wearing a pink mini-skirt and Squall looked down to catch sight of black sheer panties. He had seen too much. Seifer was furious, his mouth making motions, but no sound coming out. Rinoa was about to explode as well, but caught on, and sauntered over to Seifer, stradling him. It was Squall's turn to blow a fuse........his mouth doing the same thing Seifer's had a moment earlier.

"You know Seifer.......we shouldn't be jealous." Quistis said, and started grinding on Squall while looking over at her boyfriend. "We can share you."

"Yeah! Hey Seify........remember what we used to do back when we were going out?" Rinoa said suggestively. Both men had seen enough, and bolted from the couch.

"WE UNDERSTAND ALREADY!!" both shouted. The women, their work done, high fived and left the room.

Seifer was the first to speak once they were gone. "Er.........Squall..........you didn't........er.........enjoy that did you?"

"No....it made me uncomfortable." Squall flushed red. "What about you?"

"Of course not!" Seifer exclaimed.

"Are you saying that Rinoa's ugly!?" Squall roared.

"No! But how come you didn't enjoy Quistis being there........you thing she's UGLY!?" Seifer screamed back.

From outside the room, the women listend to the argument and grinned in satisfaction.

_Sara Miyamoto _- Thanks! I intend to continue!

Allright people...........you know the drill..............R&R time! Peace out until next time!


	9. Interrogation

Disclaimer: Sigh Not again..... Okay........I don't own Square-Enix stuff. There... nuff said.

Sorry it took so long for me to update, but here's chapter 9, which gets a little more serious.

"You might as well talk." Seifer said to the man sitting across from him at the table. He had been here for hours interrogating Garret. Although he already knew the better part of the plan, Seifer was curious as to when it would take place. He knew, as a SeeD, that he would be called into action again to stop Garret's forces from ressurecting the Sorceress.

"You SeeD's are all so boring." Garret murmered, his first word in three hours.

"Whatever you like to think." Seifer said disgustedly.

"Really. Did you expect me to reveal my entire plan to you after you captured me? Do you really expect to be able to hold me here much longer?" Garret scoffed.

"I really don't see any way of you getting out. You've been relieved of your GF's, you have no magic junctioned. You don't have your weapon. I'm just not seeing it." Seifer shrugged.

"Oh my dear friend, Almasy.... you really don't know do you?" Garret chuckled.

"Know what? Would you shut up?" Seifer slammed his fist onto the table.

"Hahahaha. A few minutes ago you were telling me to talk and now you want me to shut up. Indecisive aren't we?" Garret continued laughing.

"You.... my "friend", are lucky that they didn't permit me to carry Hyperion in here with me." Seifer narrowed his eyes.

"And what would you do with that? Kill me? You'd be hanged for that Almasy. Even these Garden prudes have little tolerance for your hot-headedness." Garret smirked.

"You may be right Garret.... but you'd still be dead." it was Seifer's turn to grin.

"Please. My Goddess would ressurect me." Garret sneered.

"Are you so sure? You were always her peon. I was always her knight. How do you know she wouldn't come back to me?" Seifer suggested. At this, Garret twisted his face into a knot and uttered not another word.

"Bah! You're useless!" Seifer slammed the door behind him as he exited the interrogation room. A few moments after Seifer had left, another young man entered. This one was a bit shorter than Seifer, and had shaggy brown hair. He also wore a scar to match Seifer's.

"Leonhart. How nice of you to join me." Garret offered the seat across from him to Squall, who stood his ground. Another person entered the room.

"And you've brought your girlfriend... how nice." Garret's words sounded like sugar coated acid.

"My girlfriend is the only living Sorceress, Garret. You should be looking for her instead of some ruined corpse." Squall spat.

"I'm already aware of Sorceress Rinoa, Mr. Leonhart... as is most of the world." Garret smiled. He knew he'd hit a soft spot in Squall. It was a well known fact that Rinoa stayed close to Squall most of the time, and didn't venture out into the rest of the world, for most people feared her, and feared that she would be a repeat of Adel and Edea.

"Why are you trying to bring back the Sorceress?" Squall demanded. "What value does she really have for you? Do you think she'd share power with you? You're wrong. She only wanted to destroy the world because she was angry with it."

"A pitiful SeeD like you could never understand the design of Ultimecia." Garret stood up from his chair violently, glaring at Squall.

"I killed Ultimecia. There's no coming back for her. I killed her in her OWN time!" Squall shouted.

"You may have killed her body, but her spirit remains!" Garret insisted.

"NOTHING EXISTS OF HER ANYMORE. WE KILLED HER IN THE TIME-COMPRESSED WORLD!" Squall chopped his hand through the air.

"And if there isn't it's YOUR FAULT!" Garret lunged at Squall, firmly planting his hands on the younger man's throat.

"Squall!" Rinoa cried and began to strike Garret, trying to get him to let go. Garret pressed Squall into the wall in his choke-hold, and effortlessly struck Rinoa, sending her flying across the room.

"GhhgH! Rinoa! Kgh! You bastard!" Squalls struggled to speak.

"You know. You SeeD's are rediculous. You are supposed to be well trained. You should have checked all of my junctions Leonhart. I have special abilities junctioned that can't be removed..." Garret held Squall against the wall with one hand.

"Gagh! What are you...egh...talking about?" Squall choked.

"I have DRAW junctioned, Squall. Draw! Ellone was not the ONLY junction machine that Odine produced! And I knew that pitiful guard who is calling for backup right now would have a GF junctioned to him.... so I drew it from him when he gave me breakfast!" Garret increased his hold on Squall, who, unfortunately, did not have a GF junctioned.

"And where might I hide such a machine Squall? Look!" Garret pulled his military uniform upward, exposing his stomach. Where his ribs should have been, there were metallic objects that did not belong.

"I knew that Odine's draw and junction machine would come in handy one day.......so I had it surgically implatnted." Garret said calmly.

Garret's hold on Squall throat was like a vice-grip, and Squall blacked out, falling limp.

"Not so powerful now, are you Lion?" Garret spat on Squall's face and stormed from the room.

The guard outside wasn't as lucky as Squall or Rinoa. Garret's rage was not to be trifled with. The poor sap went for his handgun only to have his heart ripped out by a GF enhanced Garret. The guard out of the way, Garret kicked open the locked door and emerged into what was once NORG's lair. He calmly proceeded to an instrument pannel on the wall and pressed a hidden switch. The wall slid away revealing a small glowing orb set upon a tri-point.

"Just as NORG said..." Garret murmered, and grasped the orb. He went back into the cell room and retrieved a backpack from the guard and shoved the orb into it. His work done, he sped to the elevator. Once at the base floor he bolted for the exit. Students that were going about their daily business were too shocked at the sight of Garret and his bloody arm to try and stop him. He catapulted over the entrance gate and ran hard for the forest, where his personal ship lay.

Garret chuckled to himself as he prepped the ship for launch. The foolish SeeD's had fallen for his ruse. He had intentionally left a copy of his ticket for Dollet knowing full well that they would pursue him there. Seifer's subterfuge had been unexpected, but his capture wasn't. He did have to give them credit for sending Seifer in first... it really was quite clever of them to appeal to his ego, but it mattered not. The orb was in his possession and the rest of his plan was already under way. Adel would be found... the Sorceress would be resurrected.

Sorry for the short chappy folks. Kinda mysterious too. Bet you're all wondering what the orb is for. You'll find out soon enough. R&R in the meantime.


	10. Dazed and Confused

Disclaimer: i DoN't oWn sQaRe eNiX cHaRaChTeRs.

Welcome back! It's time for the 10th installment of Storm Before The Calm. Enjoy.

"Squall... are you okay?" a voice came from above him. It was a voice he had grown to love. A light, sweet, melodic voice that could only belong to Rinoa.

"Mhhm... what the hell?" Squall tried to sit up. His neck hurt.

"Can you stand up?" came Rinoa's voice again. He still hadn't opened his eyes.

"I think so." he answered. Eyelids fluttered open to steel blue eyes. A very concerned Rinoa knelt above him, her hand on his head. He stood up and shook his head. Still a bit woozy from the suffocation, he staggered a bit. Rinoa caught him and steadied his movement.

"Take it easy." Rinoa said calmly.

"I thought I'd be the one telling you that. Garret threw you against the wall with extreme force." Squall stated.

"Squall... we've been over this before... I'm a sorceress." Rinoa rolled her eyes.

"But you are okay?" Squall looked concerned.

"I'm fine. You're in worse shape than me." Rinoa put her hands on her hips.

"Seifer would laugh at seeing me like this..." Squall hung his head.

"Seifer is gone." Rinoa shook her head.

"What!?" Squall chopped a hand through the air.

"He went out to pursue Garret. I told him not to, but he was so angry over what Garret did he didn't listen." Rinoa waved a hand in the air and shook her head, in her own familiar gesture.

"Does Quistis know?" Squall inquired.

"Of course she does... she went with him." Rinoa raised an eyebrow.

"What!?" Squall put his head in his hand.

"Along with Irvine, Zell, and Selphie." Rinoa finished.

"So basically everyone is out pursuing Garret and we're here doing nothing." Squall clenched his fists.

"No... you were out Squall, or else you'd be with them too." Rinoa put her hands on her knees and knelt a bit, looking Squall in the face.

"They took the Ragnarok... didn't they?" Squall sighed.

"Yes... but that doesn't mean we can't get there." Rinoa smiled.

"How do you propose to find another ship like Ragnarok?" Squall rolled his eyes.

"I'm not saying we should find a ship... I'm saying we should teleport to them." Rinoa's smile turned to a grin.

"Are you sure you are ready to conjure a portal Rinoa? You've only had your powers for a short time." Squall pointed out.

"I'm sure... It seems like everytime I get hurt and recouperate, my powers grow stronger." Rinoa put a hand on her hip and snapped her fingers. Behind her, the air turned purple and a visible tear in time/space fabric could be seen.

"Let's go." Rinoa pointed towards the portal. Both stepped through and found themselves in the passenger deck of the Ragnarok.

"Nice job." Squall admired Rinoa's handywork.

"Thank you, sweetie." Rinoa hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Let's get to the cockpit. It's gonna blow everyone's minds that we're here."

"Whatever." Squall shook his head.

"Dammit Selphie! Can't you make this hunk of junk go any faster!?" Seifer roared from the weapons station.

"I'm going as fast as I can! Isn't that right Irvy?" Selphie looked up at Irvine, at which the ship veered sharply to the right. Selphie quickly steadied the controls and sought Irvine's approval once more.

"That's right Sefie... the ship is at it's max speed." Irvine nodded at Seifer.

"God Dammit! Stupid Estharian bullshit ship!" Seifer pounded his fists on the controls, launching a volly of machine gun fire.

"Hey! Watch it Seifer. If someone had been in front of us... they'd be toast!" a voice came from the cockpit door. It belonged to Rinoa.

"Holy shit! I mean.... how did you two get here?" Irvine's hat fell off, and he scooped it up.

"Rinoa summoned a portal..." was Squall's answer, as he followed Rinoa in.

"Her powers have grown that much?" Quistis finally spoke up. She had been seated in one of the new chairs next to the cockpit door.

"Isn't it great?" Rinoa jumped up and down.

"No Rinoa... it's not that great. Think of the implications..." Seifer said without turning.

"Seifer's right Rinoa... the more your powers grow... the more people will fear you." Quistis nodded.

"I know... but you guys don't fear me, do you?" Rinoa looked hopeful.

"Of course not, Rinny, but you won't always have us around..." Irvine said.

"Yeah I will. I'll always have Squall!" Rinoa hugged her boyfriend protectively.

"You may not even have him one day..." Seifer muttered.

"And why wouldn't I?" Rinoa demanded.

"Rinoa... quit actin like a child." Seifer sprung from the weapons controls, standing evenly against the backdrop of the sky.

"I'm not!" Rinoa insisted.

"Yes you are... Something... anything... could happen to any of us. You need to learn how to become self-sufficient. I have. I'm ready for everyone to turn on me or die any day. I know exactly what I want and need. Do you?" Seifer asked.

"Seifer... haven't you payed attention to anything that we've done during the past month since you came back?" Squall joined the conversation.

"Oh I'm all too familiar with facades Squall. I've put up a few myself." Seifer sneered.

Squall shook his head and snorted, "It's your own fault that you don't believe we really care for you."

"Yeah! Your'e forgetting Quistis too, dumbass!" Zell entered the cockpit. "She loves you, and she always has. Admit it. We've always been there for you, even when we were kickin your ass!"

"If I wanted your opinion Chicken-Wuss, I WOULD HAVE ASKED FOR IT!!" Seifer raged.

"Asshole!" Zell took on a fighting pose.

"ENOUGH." Squall roared. "So... where are we on the pursuit of Garret?"

"Nowhere..." Seifer hung his head. "We've been on a wild goose chase. Selphie used the computer to try and pick up traces of any jet fuel being used, but found none. We found scorches in the ground headed towards Trabia, but we've been all over. No sign of him..."

"That's because you're not thinking... Of course Garret would leave his engine scorches headed towards Trabia. It would buy him time. He's headed to the most obvious desination, Esthar." Squall crossed his arms.

"And why would he head to the most obvious destination, oh Commander sir?" Seifer smart-assed.

Squall chuckled. "Because he knew we'd think exactly how you are right now." Squall turned to Selphie. "Change your destination... we're headed for the Sorceress Memorial."

"Roger that!" Selphie veered the Ragnarok to the right, and set in the auto-pilot.

Another not so long chapter...-sigh- Don't worry though, things are going to seriously pick up in not too long! R&R in the meantime.


End file.
